Carl Stamitz

Biography

Carl Philipp Stamitz (Czech: Karel Stamic; born in Mannheim and baptized 8 May 1745 – 9 November 1801), was a German composer of partial Czech ancestry of the Classical era. He was the most prominent representative of the second generation of the Mannheim School.

He was the eldest son of Johann Stamitz, a violinist and composer of the early classical period. He received lessons from his father and Christian Cannabich, his father's successor as leader of the Mannheim orchestra. As a youth, Stamitz was employed as a violinist in the court orchestra at Mannheim. In 1770, he began travelling as a virtuoso, accepting short-term engagements, but never managing to gain a permanent position. He visited a number of European cities, living for a time in Strasbourg and London. In 1794, he gave up travelling and moved with his family to Jena in central Germany. His circumstances deteriorated and he descended into debt and poverty, dying in 1801. Many tracts on alchemy were found in his library after his death.

Stamitz wrote symphonies, symphonies concertantes, and concertos for clarinet, cello, flute, oboe, bassoon, basset horn, violin, viola, viola d'amore, and different combinations of these instruments. Some of his clarinet and viola concertos are particularly admired. He also wrote duos, trios, and quartets. Two operas, Der verliebte Vormund and Dardanus, are now lost.

Stylistically, his music resembles that of Mozart or Haydn and is characterized by appealing melodies, although his writing for the solo instruments is not excessively virtuosic. The opening movements of his orchestral works, which are in sonata form, are generally followed by expressive and lyrical middle movements and the final movements in the form of a rondo.

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