Jan Křtitel Vaňhal (Johann Baptist Wanhal) - Symphony in D Minor, Bryan d2, Munich Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra (Philharmonisches Kammerorchester München), Michael Helmrath (conductor)
Ulrich Becker, Oboe
Recorded: 22-25 March 1993
I. Allegro molto - 00:00
II. Cantabile - 06:02
III. Finale. Allegro - 12:42
Johann Baptist Vanhal was born on 12 May 1739 in Nove Nechanice, in Bohemia, into a family of bonded peasants who had lived in Bohemia for generations but may have stemmed from the Netherlands. He received early instruction in music in his native town and learnt German and violin. He must have been an industrious pupil, for at the age of 17 or 18 he was entrusted with the organist's post in Opočno and, shortly thereafter, that of choir director in Hněvčeves. There the young man perfected his violin playing, evidently turned to the viola d'amore and began to write concertos.
In 1760 or 1761 he moved to Vienna in the retinue of Countess Schaffgotsch, who arranged for him to receive further keyboard instruction. The lessons left his dissatisfied, and he proceeded to teach himself. In 1762-63 he may have sought contact with fellow musicians such as Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739-1799), who claimed in his memoirs that Vanhal had been his pupil.
In the space of a few years Vanhal managed to become a leading figure in Vienna's music scene; he gained a reputation as a teacher, violinist and later as a composer, and earned enough money to purchase his freedom. Beginning in 1769 his compositions appeared in print throughout Europe.
In May 1769 he set out for Italy on a journey financed by Baron Isaac von Riesch of Dresden that took him via Venice, Bologna and Florence to Rome. There he met Florian Leopold Gassmann (1729-1774), whom he assisted in the composition of operas. After returning to Vienna with Gassmann in September 1771, he is said to have suffered from a temporary mental disorder. However, despite many claims to the contrary in the Vanhal literature, this illness can have had little effect on his productivity.
Around 1780 Vanhal changed his compositional priorities. Instead of writing orchestral and chamber music he now produced nothing but church music, organ works and piano pieces. He also gradually withdrew from the public arena as a performer, though a legendary appearance in a string quartet with Haydn, Mozart and Dittersdorf is known to have taken place in 1784. In the 1790s the complaint was frequently heard that Vanhal no longer treated the public to large-scale compositions as in the past.
He died in Vienna on 20 August 1813.
Vanhal can justly be placed among the most prolific composers of the 18th century. As far as we know today, he composed 100 string quartets, at least 76 symphonies, roughly 60 concertos, several hundred other pieces of chamber music and an equal number for the piano, plus 51 Mass and well over 100 lesser sacred pieces. Vanhal scholar Paul Bryan placed the total size of his oeuvre at 1377 works. But besides their sheer quantity, it was also the quality of these works that soon established Vanhal's reputation. As early as 1772, when Vanhal was 33 years old, the English music historian Charles Burney noted on his European tour that Vanhal's symphonies were 'among the most complete and perfect compositions, for many instruments, which the art of music can boast'. In a later publication (1819) he even claimed that 'before we became familiar with Haydn's symphonies, for many years Vanhal's spirited, natural and unaffected style drew more attention in our [London] concerts than any other music from abroad'. Friedrich Rochlitz, the editor of the Leipzig Allgerneine musikalische Zeitung, struck a similar note in his Vanhal obituary, published in the issue of January 1814: 'For a while, and especially before J. Haydn's and Mozart's works had attained a wider circulation and a deeper impact, Vanhal was one of the most popular, indeed one of the most illustrious instrumental composers in Germany.' Extract from Bert Hagels notes)