Composers and Aristocratic Patronage - Research Paper Example

Composers and Aristocratic Patronage Aristocratic patronage can be said to be the founder of the arts as we know them today. As the economies of the world became less centered on agriculture and more focused on trade, the aristocratic families began investing more in artistic or cultural pursuits. Beginning as early as the Italian Renaissance in the 1400s, wealthy families began supporting artists as a means of decorating their palaces and displaying their wealth. It seems the majority of this effort was initiated in the visual arts in the forms of paintings and sculptures, eventually extending into architecture as well. It took a little longer for this interest to extend into the realm of music and composers, but this, too, was inevitable. Musicians were necessary to help entertain guests, to fill an empty evening, to assist with devotionals and to provide sound to dance to during social events in a time when recordings and video were not available. It is hard to imagine today, but for centuries, people had to do something with their time rather than sit on a couch passively entertained unless they had the wealth to hire entertainers. With the patronage of wealthy aristocrats, both in contracted assignments and through what today would be termed networking, composers were able to explore their musical ideas and experiment with the sounds of their times. Concerts and orchestras were arranged among these wealthy and the composer’s name was made. However, these same composers were limited by these patrons as well, being expected to work within their tastes and dependent upon their generosity. To more fully appreciate the benefits and limitations that were introduced into the development of music, it is helpful to take a more in-depth look at how patronage affected famous composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Carl Maria von Weber. Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach was a composer and musician who lived from 1685 to 1750. Bach received an early introduction to music as his father was the director of the town musicians of Eisenach, Germany at the time of his birth and his uncles were all musicians and composers at varying levels of proficiency and renown (Jones, 2007: 3). As a small child, his father taught him how to play the harpsichord and the violin while his most famous uncle Johann Christoph Bach introduced him to the organ. Bach’s pride in his family’s musical heritage is evident in the genealogy he put together entitled Origin of the Musical Bach Family. He knew early tragedy when his parents died within eight months of each other, leaving him an orphan at the age of 10 (Miles, 1962: 8). He was taken in by his older brother who was already working as an organist in a nearby town and was thus able to teach him the clavichord and the works of Johann Pachelbel and Johann Jakob Froberger, both of whom were well-known composers of the time (Wolff, 2000: 41-43). It is possible he also studied the works of several of the North German composers as well. He was awarded a music scholarship to study at the prestigious St. Michael’s School in Luneburg, near Hamburg, for two years where he gained valuable education, exposure to other European musical styles and made friends among the German elite (Wolff, 2000: 41-43). It was shortly after he graduated from St. Michael’s that he secured his first patronage, accepting a post in the court of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar that lasted only seven months (Rich, 1995: 27). He quickly moved on to church organist at St. Boniface’s Church in Arnstadt where he was given a great deal more flexibility and room to begin working on his own compositions. In 1706, he moved on to St. Blasius in Muhlhousen, a much larger city in the north where he again stayed for a very brief period before returning to the court at Weimar in 1708 where he stayed until 1717, soaking up the Italian influences that were the favorite of the court at that time (Mendel, 1999: 80). After leaving Weimar in disgrace, Bach was hired by Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Kothen until 1723 when he moved into a government post in Leipzig where he stayed until his death in 1750 (Miles, 1962: 86-87). Even from this brief biography, it can be determined that patronage had a strong influence on Bach’s professional development and output. The various stages of Bach’s life are mirrored by the musical compositions he created. As a young man, eager to explore his ideas and while serving his relatively easy position at St. Boniface, Bach wrote his first compositions which took the form of organ preludes, largely influenced by the fancy organ then installed at the church and the lack of a choir that met his expectations of talent (Geiringer, 1966: 13). It was during his time in the Weimar court that he began expanding his musical range, moving into keyboard and orchestral compositions and strongly influenced by popular Italian composers of the time including Vivaldi, Corelli and Torelli (Schweitzer, 1950: 331-337). This was partially due to the court’s preference for this musical style as it is reported that Prince Johann Ernst, himself a professional musician, was a particular fan of these composers. It was also during this period in his life that Bach began his explorations into the fugue and writing training materials for his sons that exposed his love for chorales. Upon his move to Kothen, though, and the patronage of a Calvinist prince, his compositions necessarily became more secular, moving more into orchestral works and single instrument works for the violin and cello (Boye, 2000: 74). Once at Leipzig, his works again focused on Lutheran themes. As court composer to the king of Poland, he was able to gain needed advantage over the Leipzig council for greater freedom in expanding his fugues and other ideas. In spite of his tremendous output, Bach was known as a musician much more than he was recognized as a composer during his lifetime. His youthful training was somewhat restricted by his position during his first stint at Weimar and then by the lack of talent he had to work with at St. Boniface. His patrons continuously set the tone for the music he performed and produced. Continuously forced to adhere to the standards of his patrons, whether religious or secular, singular royalty or plural bureaucracy, Bach nevertheless managed to introduce new techniques, organization and incorporation of the new explorations of the surrounding nations – namely Italy and France. This was the result of his exposure to music from abroad thanks to these wealthy patrons. Thus, while it can be said that Bach was limited in his work by the personalities of his patrons, it can also be seen that without the generosity of these patrons, he would not have achieved the experience and exposure that contributed to his abilities. Today, he is recognized as the primary composer of the Baroque period and one of the greatest composers of all time, but during his life, he was lucky to be recognized as anything other than a simple organist, conductor or music teacher. Joseph Haydn Joseph Haydn was born in Austria in 1732 and lived until 1809. Although his parents were not formal musicians, his father was a folk musician who had taught himself to play the harp and the family often joined their neighbors in singing and dancing. Realizing their son’s musical talent by the age of six, his parents made the decision to send him to a relative, Johann Matthias Frankh, who was a choirmaster in Hainburg so that he could be better educated. While he learned to play the harpsichord and the violin and was an appreciated singer in the church, his life with his relative was very poor and he eagerly left two years later to serve under the director of music in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna (Dies, 1962: 87). While serving at St. Stephen’s, Haydn received a formal academic education and was self-taught for much of his musical education until 1749 when his voice finally changed and he was dismissed from service with no concern for his future well-being. Staying with a friend, Haydn supported himself for a while doing odd jobs related to music until he was finally hired on as an accompanist to the Italian composer Nicola Porpora in 1752 (Larsen, 1980: 8). Again engaged in self-study, Haydn began writing his own music and seeing it distributed, often without pay, as well as working freelance for the Viennese court (Griesinger, 1963: 15). Finally, in 1756, Haydn secured the aristocratic patronage that was so necessary for a musician to survive in his time. He was first engaged by Countess Thun as a singing and keyboard instructor, then went to Baron Carl Josef Furnberg at his country estate in Weinzierl, finally achieving a full-time position as a music director with Count Morzin in 1757 (Geiringer, 1982: 34-35). When Count Morzin experienced financial ruin in 1761, Haydn was able to secure a similar and much more stable position with the Esterhazy family, which was one of the most wealthy and important families in the empire (Webster, 2002: 13). In the Esterhazy household, he was expected to wear the family livery, compose original works for the family, run the orchestra, play chamber music and even produce operas, yet his patrons were appreciative of his talent and provided him access to his own small orchestra and time to work on his own ideas. He was even able to fit in some time to work with Mozart, another composer whose work he highly admired (Larsen, 1980: 53). Although he remained relatively isolated from the world within this position for 30 years, he was able to develop a strong reputation outside of the Esterhazy household and executed a number of compositions commissioned from abroad (Geiringer, 1982: 75-95). When Prince Nikolaus of the House of Esterhazy died, leaving the estate to a prince with less musical interests, Haydn was placed on a pension and free to explore his own interests, which turned out to be accepting an offer from Johann Peter Salomon in England from which he was finally able to establish financial independence (Landon & Jones, 1988: 234). Following this success, he returned to Vienna where he dedicated himself to his own compositions and became tutor to the young Ludwig van Beethoven until he was forced by illness to retire in 1802. After a long confinement, he died in 1809 as Napoleon Bonaparte was attacking the city. Again, the biography of the composer reveals a close connection between the compositions produced and the patron’s interests. Haydn depended upon patronage from a very young age for his own welfare and undoubtedly never forgot it. Although his early tutors were not much interested in the boy’s welfare, Haydn himself took the initiative to learn and thus opened up opportunities for himself that might not otherwise have been available. By closely learning from his early patrons, including Nicola Porpora, and intelligently utilizing his free time, Haydn was able to convince other patrons to engage his services. By carefully delivering what was expected of him for these aristocratic patrons such as Countess Thun and Baron Carl Josef Furnberg, he was able to secure a more stable position within a household. Had it not been for the financial difficulties of this household, he may have languished for a long period in a relatively unknown position, but his elevation to the Esterhazy household ensured he would gain widespread notoriety among the wealthy elite of Austria at the same time that he had no reason to fear for his own welfare. The music-loving Esterhazy family enabled him to have access to all the resources he needed to produce his music, including access to his own orchestra albeit small. He had enough free time to take on commissions from other noble families and some time to work on his own productions. In these areas, he was extremely fortunate, especially for a young man who had been thrown out on the streets without a prayer or even a kind word. However, these elements also served as a hindrance to him as he found himself forced to remain in near isolation in the country rather than being involved in the city where he preferred. His compositions were not created in a vacuum as he did have access to the music of other composers of his time, but his access was limited and sporadic. Even from a very young age, his musical knowledge was largely dependent on his own initiative, receiving little, if any, guidance from those in the know. In addition, his aristocratic patrons preferred their country seat rather than the palace closer enough to Vienna to allow Haydn periodic visits. This restricted his access to new composers and his interaction with other musical geniuses such as Mozart. He was not able to engage in a great deal of travel out of the country to experience what was happening in the greater music scene. Even requests for his music from other countries came in the form of commissions and thus the subject and tone of the music was mostly constrained by his customer’s specific requirements. It wasn’t until his later years that he was finally given the opportunity to present his music fully under his own direction, achieving great success and independence at last. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Apparently a close friend of Haydn, Mozart was also quite a bit younger. However, his musical genius also was much earlier wide-spread support. Born in 1756 in Salzburg to the music director of this capitol city who was also a minor composer and an experienced teacher, Mozart demonstrated very early that he had musical talent. “He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was always striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. ... In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier. ... He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. ... At the age of five he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down” (Deutsch, 1965: 455). Voracious about producing sound, Mozart’s father Leopold quickly found it necessary to give up his own composing in order to fulfill the needs of his son. Because of this early recognition of his talent, Mozart was able to take a number of European tours beginning when he was eight in which he was showcased as a child prodigy. His tours, which continued almost non-stop for nine years, included Bavaria, Munich, Vienna, Prague, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague and Zurich (Halliwell, 1998: 47-53). While on tour, he began writing his own compositions and met other influential musicians such as Bach. His father had hopes that he would be picked up for a professional appointment in the prestigious Italian courts, but this never happened. Instead, he accepted a low-paying position within the Salzburg court where he worked with symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, serenades, operas and concertos (Solomon, 1995: 103). In spite of this success, Mozart the young man was unhappy during his four years in Salzburg and continued to look for work, finally resigning his post in 1777 in order to travel in search of another position accompanied by his mother. Finding no success, falling into debt and losing his mother to illness, Mozart finally returned to Salzburg and a slightly improved position at court but remained bitter that he couldn’t find work elsewhere (Halliwell, 1998: ch. 18-19). Traveling to Vienna with his patron, Mozart became offended by his employer’s insulting treatment of him and moved in with some friends. Not able to come to any reconciliation with the archbishop and being literally kicked out the door, Mozart launched a freelance career in Vienna supporting himself with his keyboarding skills. It was at this point that he was finally able to begin truly composing his own pieces and find some success under his own name. It was during this period of his life that Mozart achieved a good level of success and reputation, producing a number of his concertos which he performed himself in self-promoted concerts held in unusual venues (Solomon, 1995: 293). This not only enabled him to achieve enough success to support his family, but also gained him the attention of librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte with whom he wrote several operas. Although he had found success for the moment, it was not secure and he gladly accepted a position with Emperor Joseph II in 1787 as a chamber composer responsible for creating dances to be used in the annual balls (Solomon, 1995: 423-424). From 1788-1790, the country was at war and none of the aristocracy had extra funding to support music and its development much less have the energy to attend concerts and Mozart, like many musicians of his time, suffered. Although he went through a strong period of creativity in 1791 and had real prospects of securing aristocratic patronage again, he died at the end of the year at the age of 35, still attempting to finish his Requiem. With all his talent and skill, Mozart’s lack of a full-time, secure position necessarily limited his output. While patronage has been seen to introduce a number of constraints on some of the other composers looked at thus far, the stability they were offered enabled them to fully dedicate their free-time energies to larger works and experiment with sound. Mozart also managed to do this to some extent, still recognized today as one of the world’s greatest musical minds, but his attention was constantly pulled to exploring means of making money from his work to support his family in the style he felt they deserved. In early travels enabled him to meet many of the important composers of his day and to hear the various musical styles being introduced, but he remained constantly unable to secure a steady position. His music was very versatile, including numerous forms and introducing greater technical sophistication and emotional reach. Under aristocratic patronage, there’s no telling what he might have accomplished. While he did gain some patronage in his life, this was not sufficient to keep him housed and tended to remain focused on less important works. Ludwig van Beethoven Carl Maria von Weber Conclusion References Boyd, Malcolm. (2000). Bach. New York: Oxford University Press. Deutsch, Otto Erich. (1966). Mozart: A Documentary Biography. Stanford University Press. Dies, Albert Christoph. (1963). “Biographical Accounts of Joseph Haydn.” Vernon Gotwals (Trans). Haydn: Two Contemporary Portraits. Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press. Geiringer, Karl. (1966). 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