Leopold Koželuh

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Leopold Antonín Koželuh
Place of work from 1771 to 1778 Theater an der Kotzen
Leopold Koželuch's signature from 1796

Leopold Antonín Koželuh (also Leopold Anton Ko (t) zeluch ; born June 26, 1747 in Welwarn , † May 7, 1818 in Vienna ) was a Bohemian composer and music teacher .

Life

Leopold Koželuh was the son of the shoemaker and civil trader Antonín Bartholomäus Koželuh; He was baptized with the first name Ioannes Antonius. The composer Jan Antonín Koželuh (1738–1814) was his cousin, the pianist Katharina Cibbini (1785–1858) his daughter. To avoid confusion with his cousin, he probably renamed himself before 1774. On the occasion of his marriage on November 14, 1782 to Maria Allmayr von Allstern (a niece of Ignaz von Born ) he was entered in the register as "Johann Leopold Koscheluck".

Koželuh received his first artistic lessons in Welwarn from Anton Kubík and later from his cousin and Franz Xaver Dussek . He successfully attended high school in Prague and then studied law. After a few semesters, he broke off his studies and from then on devoted himself only to music.

In 1771 he made his debut with a ballet at the Theater an der Kotzen (Divadlo v Kotcích) in Prague. Over the next seven years Koželuh composed around 25 works for the Prague theater. In 1778 he went to Vienna and was probably a student of Johann Georg Albrechtsberger for a short time .

After a short time Koželuh advanced to become a celebrated pianist. The imperial court entrusted him with the successor of Georg Christoph Wagenseil as music teacher of the Archduchess Elisabeth , the daughter of Empress Maria Theresa . In 1781 Koželuh turned down the office of court organist in Salzburg as Mozart's successor . For this he became chamber music director and court composer for life after Mozart's death in 1792. He taught a few students, including the blind pianist Maria Theresia Paradis , privately at home.

Of Masonic ideas enthusiastically, joined Koželuh in Vienna the boxes to Palm Tree and The Three eagles in.

Koželuh was recognized throughout Europe during his lifetime ; in his final years he was often criticized as a prolific writer. The negative reviews by Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven have not been forgotten to this day. Nevertheless, his best works already show traces of the musical language of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert . Indeed, some of his works have long been attributed to Beethoven.

Leopold Koželuh died in Vienna on May 7, 1818 at the age of 70 of gout .

Works

Koželuh left about 400 compositions. These include around 30 symphonies and 22 piano concertos, two clarinet concertos, a trumpet concert , 24 sonatas for piano and violin, 63 piano trios, two oratorios (including Moisé in Egitto ), nine cantatas and some church music works. His works also include six operas and six ballets, which, with the exception of one opera, are considered lost. The opera Gustav Wasa (probably composed in 1792) was first broadcast in Excerpts on Czechoslovak Radio in 1977 , but was only performed in Helsinki in 2018 , for the first time since the composer's death.

literature

Web links

Commons : Leopold Koželuh  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lukáš M. Vytlačil: From Velvary, Bohemia, to the court in Vienna. The life of the imperial Kapellmeister Leopold Koželuh and a new complete edition of his keyboard sonatas. In: Czech Music Quarterly. 16/2, pp. 7-11. ( online )
  2. ↑ Brockhaus Encyclopedia. 19th edition. Volume 12, 1990, p. 414.
  3. ↑ January Granberg: Ett år tvåhundra GAMMAT operfynd. In: Hufvudstadsbladet. March 5, 2018, p. 20 , accessed May 15, 2018 (Swedish).
personal data
SURNAME Koželuh, Leopold
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Koželuh, Leopold Antonín; Kozeluch, Leopold Anton; Kotzeluch, Leopold Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bohemian-Austrian composer and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1747
PLACE OF BIRTH Welwarn near Prague
DATE OF DEATH May 7, 1818
Place of death Vienna