Adalbert Gyrowetz

Adalbert Gyrowetz (born Vojtěch Matyáš Jírovec) (February 20, 1763 in České Budějovice (Budweis) – March 19, 1850 in Vienna) was a Bohemian composer.

Biography

His father was the choirmaster in Budweis' cathedral, and Adalbert first studied with him. Adalbert then travelled to Prague, where he studied law but continued to learn music.

At around this time he was in the employment of Count Franz von Fünfkirchen in Brno, whose employees were all musicians. Here he started composing, among other things, symphonies, of which he was eventually to write over 60. In 1785 he moved to Vienna, where he met Mozart, who have performed one of Jírovec's symphonies in the same year.^[1] From 1786 to around 1793, he travelled throughout Europe. He spent some time in Paris, where he established that some symphonies that had been published as the work of Joseph Haydn were in fact his work.^[2] He spent three years in Italy, meeting Goethe in Rome and studying with Nicola Sala in Naples. In 1791, he met Haydn, whom he idolized, in London. While in London, Johann Peter Salomon commissioned symphonies from Gyrowetz to be performed at his Hannover Square Room Concerts.

He was a prolific composer. His operas and singspiele numbered over 30. They include Semiramide (1791), Der Augenarzt (1811), and Robert, oder Die Prüfung.

Selected works

• Operas
  • Semiramis (1791 - lost)
  • Selico (1804 Vienna )
  • Mirana, die Königin der Amazonen (1806 Vienna)
  • Agnes Sorel (1806 Vienna)
  • Ida, die büssende (1807)
  • Die Junggesellen-Wirtschaft (1807 Vienna)
  • Emericke (1807 Vienna)
  • Die Pagen des Herzogs von Vendôme (1808 Vienna)
  • Der Sammtrock (1809 Vienna)
  • Der betrogene Betrüger (1810 Vienna)
  • Das zugemauerte Fenster (1810 Vienna)
  • Der Augenarzt (1811 Vienna)
  • Federica ed Adolfo (1812 Vienna)
  • Das Winterquartier in America (1812 Vienna)
  • Robert, oder Die Prüfung (1815 Vienna)
  • Helene (1816 Vienna)
  • Die beiden Eremiten (1816)
  • Der Gemahl von ungefähr (1816 Vienna)
  • Die beiden Savoyarden (1817)
  • Il finto Stanislao (1818 Milano)
  • Aladin (1819 Vienna)
  • Das Ständchen (1823 Vienna)
  • Des Kaisers Genesung (1826 Vienna)
  • Der blinde Harfner (1827 Vienna)
  • Der Geburtstag (1828 Vienna)
  • Der dreizehnte Mantel (1829 Vienna)
  • Felix und Adele (1831 Vienna)
  • Hans Sachs im vorgerückten Alter (1834 Dresden)

• Over 60 symphonies, including:
  • Symphony in E-flat major, Op. 6, No. 2
  • Symphony in F major, Op. 6, No. 3
  • Symphony in D major, Op. 12, No. 1
• Three Flute Quartets, Op. 11 (1795)
  • No. 1 in D major
  • No. 2 in G major
  • No. 3 in C major
• About 60 string quartets, including:
  • Six String Quartets, Op. 17
  • Three String Quartets, Op. 25a
  • Three String Quartets, Op. 44
    • No. 1 in G major
    • No. 2 in B-flat major
    • No. 3 in A-flat major
  • Three String Quartets, Op. 30
  • Three String Quartets, Op. 56
• 30 Trios, including:
  • Three Piano Trios, op. 10
  • Three Piano Trios, op. 18
  • Piano Trio, Op. 22
  • Three Piano Trios, op. 15
  • Three Trios for piano, violin or flute, and cello, op. 12
  • Three Piano Trios, op. 41
  • Trio (clarinet, cello, and piano), Op. 43
  • Nocturne no. 9 for Piano Trio, op. 41 (1800)
  • Divertimento for Piano Trio, op. 50
• 40 violin sonatas
• 3 quintets, including:
  • Quintet in C major (2 violins, 2 violas, and cello) Op.45
• Much other miscellaneous chamber music, including:
  • Quartet G minor (flute, violin, viola, and cello), Op. 19, No. 2
  • Third Nightmusic (flute, violin, viola, and cello), Op. 26
  • Quintet in E minor for flute, violin, violas, violoncello, op. 39 (1800)

Notes

References

• Kennedy, Michael and Bourne, Joyce, Eds. Oxford Concise Dictionary of Music. Fourth Edition, 1996 (2004 reprint with new information in some entries). Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860884-5. p. 311.

• Autobiography written in 1848, published by Alfred Einstein in 1915. Czech translation Vlastní životopis Vojtěcha Jírovce by František Bartoš published in 1940 by František Topič. Translated into English and edited by Renee Anna Illa, as Ph. D. dissertation, Kent State University.

• Černušák, Gracián (ed.); Štědroň, Bohumír; Nováček, Zdenko (ed.) (1963). Československý hudební slovník I. A-L. Prague: Státní hudební vydavatelství.  (Czech)

External links

• The Michael Haydn Project Information on the lesser-known composers of the Classical Era
• Free scores by Adalbert Gyrowetz in the International Music Score Library Project

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