Johannes Matthias Sperger

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Johannes Matthias Sperger (born March 23, 1750 in Feldsberg ; † May 13, 1812 in Ludwigslust ) was a double bass player and composer .

Live and act

Sperger's house in Ludwigslust from 1789 until his death in 1812

Johannes Matthias Sperger was born in Feldsberg - then Lower Austria , today Valtice, Czech Republic - and trained as a double bass player and composer in Vienna from 1767 . In 1776 he married Maria Anna Barbara Firani from Linz . From 1777 he worked in the court chapel of the Archbishop of Pressburg . From 1778 he was a member of the Vienna Tonkünstlersozietät , in whose concerts he appeared with his own works and as a soloist. From 1783 to 1786 Sperger was a member of the court orchestra of Count Ludwig von Erdődy in Kohfidisch . From 1786 to 1789 he went on concert tours and tried to get a permanent job, including at the Prussian court. At the beginning of April 1788 he played Duke Friedrich Franz I in Ludwigslust. After a trip to Italy, Sperger found his employment decree in April 1789 and began his service as the first double bass player in the Mecklenburg-Schwerin court orchestra in Ludwigslust in June 1789. In 1792 he went on a concert tour to Lübeck , in 1793 to Berlin and 1801 to Leipzig , where he gave concerts with the Gewandhaus Orchestra . In 1812 he died of nerve fever in Ludwigslust .

Johannes Sperger wrote more than 44 symphonies , instrumental concerts (concert for viola, concert for violoncello, 18 double bass concertos, concert for flute, two concertos for trumpet, three concertos for horn, symphony concertante), sonatas , rondos and dances, cantatas , choirs and arias . Most of his harmony music for wind instruments, known as the "Feldpartien", originates from his time in Bratislava.

Johann Matthias Sperger Competition

In order to honor the important works of Sperger, which he wrote not only for the double bass, and to make them better known again, the International Johann Matthias Sperger Society was founded on April 17, 2001 by Prof. Klaus Trumpf . Every two years, this organizes the “International Johann Matthias Sperger Competition for Double Bass”, which is endowed with 8,500 euros for first place and 4,500 euros for second place. 65 participants from more than 20 countries took part in the first competition in 2000. The patrons were from 2000 Zubin Mehta and Anne-Sophie Mutter , from 2010 it was Nikolaus Harnoncourt . The tenth competition took place in Ludwigslust in 2018. The patrons were Thomas Hengelbrock (chief conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Hamburg) and Birgit Hesse (Minister for Education, Science and Culture Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania).

literature

  • Adolf Meier: Thematic catalog raisonné of the compositions by Johannes Sperger (1750–1812) . Michaelstein cultural and research center, Michaelstein / Blankenburg 1990.
  • Clemens Meyer : History of the Mecklenburg-Schwerin court orchestra . Davids, Schwerin 1913.
  • Klaus Trumpf: A double bass travels the world: the experienced story (s) of a musician . Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2014.

Others

In the book Der Kontrabass by Patrick Süskind there is a remark about Sperger and his contrabass compositions, whereby the protagonist of the book is rather difficult to speak of because of their "unplayability" of these works.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to Adolf Meier, s. Lit., the baptismal register does not record the middle name Matthias.
  2. ↑ Information on the "International Johann Matthias Sperger Competition for Double Bass"
personal data
SURNAME Sperger, Johannes Matthias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian composer
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1750
PLACE OF BIRTH Feldsberg
DATE OF DEATH May 13, 1812
Place of death Ludwigslust