Anton Ferdinand Titz
Anton Ferdinand Titz (also Tietz) (* 1742 in Nuremberg ; † December 25, 1810 in Petersburg ) was a German violinist and composer who mainly composed chamber music in the Viennese classical style .
Live and act
Titz was orphaned at an early age and received painting lessons in Nuremberg from his uncle Johann Christoph Dietzsch and later from his sister Barbara Regina Dietzsch , who made it possible for him to study the violin. At the age of 16 he appeared as a violinist in the orchestra of the Church of St. Sebaldus . At the age of about 20 he moved to Vienna, where he got a job as a violinist in the Vienna Opera Orchestra through the mediation of Christoph Willibald Gluck and took part in the organized music academies of Prince Lobkowicz. In 1771 Titz accepted an invitation from the Russian state official Pyotr Alexandrowitsch Sojmonov to Saint Petersburg, where he became a member of the First Court Orchestra and chamber musician, he was also the violin teacher of the future Tsar Alexander I , and he also taught at a theater school. Empress Katharina II granted Titz, at 2500 rubles, the highest salary of all court musicians for the period from 1794 to 1799.
Louis Spohr visited him in 1803 and later wrote in his memoirs about the sick man: “If Titz is not a great violinist, even less the greatest of all times, as his admirers claim, then he is undoubtedly a musical genius, as his compositions are sufficient to prove."
Titz was known throughout Europe as a musician and composer during his lifetime, maintained contact with Mozart and Haydn in Vienna and introduced the central genre of the string quartet in his adopted country of Russia. From 1797 Titz was mentally ill and in 1805 he was accepted into the house of the patron Senator Grigori Teplow (1757-1826), to whom he dedicated three string quartet, which appeared in print in 1808. Despite his illness, Titz occasionally appeared at chamber concerts.
His works mentioned include a symphony, a violin concerto, 12 string quartets, the first six of which were in the tradition of early Viennese classical music, string quintets, violin sonatas, instrumental duos and songs. His first six quartets, composed in Vienna, were published by Artaria in 1781 , the three string quartets dedicated to the Tsar from 1801 by Nikolaus Simrock in Bonn.
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Titz, August Ferdinand . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 45th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1882, p. 147 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Ernst Stöckl and Klaus Harer: CD Booklet, Anton Ferdinand Titz: String Quartets for the St. Petersburg Court, accessed on September 23, 2020
- Sheet music and audio files by Anton Ferdinand Titz in the International Music Score Library Project
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dirk Becker in Potsdamer Latest News: The Rediscovery of an Eccentric Retrieved in February 2010.
- ^ Klaus-Peter Koch: Titz, Anton Ferdinand. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Titz, Anton Ferdinand |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Tietz, Anton Ferdinand |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German violinist and classical composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1742 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nuremberg |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 25, 1810 |
| Place of death | St. Petersburg |