Antonio
Rosetti (1750-1792)
Even during his lifetime Antonio
(Anton) Rosetti was confused with other persons of a similar
name (as in Ernst Ludwig Gerber: Historisch-biographisches Lexikon
der Tonkünstler, 1792). The information concerning his early
biography found in almost all reference sources since the new
edition of Gerber’s Lexikon (1813/14) are based on the article
Noch etwas von Rosetti which appeared in 1792 in the Musikalischen
Korrespondenz published by Heinrich Philipp Bossler. Although
these assertions for the most part have not as yet been supported
by archival evidence, they are still to be considered trustworthy
since Bossler was in close personal contact with Rosetti. According
to this source Rosetti was born in 1750 in Leitmeritz (Litoměříce,
northern Bohemia) and came “in his seventh year to the Seminary
in Prague” probably of the Jesuits, where he was given a comprehensive
(also musical) education. “At the age of nineteen” he received
“the Tonsure as a secular priest” before he decided to renounce
the clerical life. There is likewise no evidence to support
the often-cited claim that Rosetti was born Anton Rös(s)ler.
In the above cited article it is emphasized that he was never
called “Rössler, but from birth Rosetti.”
According to newly discovered sources,
he served in the early 1770s as “composer of music for the Russian
Orlow regiment,” that is “as musician to Count Orlow.” This
probably refers to Count Aleksej Orlov (after 1770 Prince Česmenskij).
Probably in September 1773 Rosetti was taken into the service
of Count (and since March 1774 Prince) Kraft Ernst of Oettingen-Wallerstein
(Ries/Bavaria). In November 1773 his name appears for the first
time in the Wallerstein court documents, where he is listed
among the servants. In July 1774 he appears in the court receipts
as a contrabass player. Soon thereafter his first compositions
for the court music as well as foreign customers appeared. In
the spring of 1774 he undertook a three-week visit to the Ansbach
court. A Requiem that he composed after the death of Kraft Ernst’s
first wife, the Princess Maria Theresia (who died 9 March 1776),
for the funeral rites on 26 March, subsequently received a wide
circulation. On 28 January 1777 Rosetti married Rosina Neher
(died 1 April 1813 in Ludwigslust), the daughter of a Wallerstein
innkeeper. They had three daughters. Already by the end of the
1770s he had made a name as a composer even beyond the borders
of south Germany. Beginning in 1776/77 the publishing house
of Breitkopf in Leipzig advertised his music for sale in manuscript
copies. The first printed edition of his works were three symphonies
that were published in 1779 by Le Menu et Boyer in Paris. As
early as 1781 his orchestral works were among the established
repertory of the Paris Concert spirituel, for which ensemble
he also composed a series of symphonies.
In late October 1781 Prince Kraft
Ernst granted him permission to undertake a trip of several
months to the French capital. He arrived there about the first
of December. There he mingled with individuals influential in
the musical life of Paris, among whom were the Prince Rohan-Guémenée
and the Prince Bourbon-Conti, Charles Ernest de Bagge, Joseph
Boulogne de Saint-Georges, and Joseph Legros. He also studied
the concert and opera offerings and forged or renewed contacts
with music publishers. In May 1782 Rosetti returned to Wallerstein.
Many of his works composed since the beginning of the 1780s
were published by well-known music publishers (André, Artaria,
Bossler, Hummel, Sieber, etc.). In the spring of 1783 Rosetti
again spent several weeks at the court of the Markgraf in Ansbach.
In the winter of 1783/84 he undertook a longer journey together
with the Wallerstein bassoonist Christoph Hoppius into the Rhein-Main
area (Mainz, Frankfurt, Darmstadt, and Speyer). After the departure
of Josef Reicha for the Bonn court of the Elector Maximilian
Franz in April 1785, Kraft Ernst delegated to Rosetti the musical
direction of the Wallerstein orchestra. His hopes of also being
granted the position of Chorregent of the Wallerstein parish
church remained unfulfilled. In February 1786 he traveled to
Munich and in 1788 and 1789 on several occasions to Augsburg.
After 1786 his symphonies appear regularly on the programs of
the great London concert series (Salomon’s Concert, Professional
Concert, etc.).
In spite of his international esteem,
Rosetti continually encountered financial worries. In July 1789
he left Wallerstein, in order to undertake the much more lucrative
position of Kapellmeister to the court of Duke Friedrich Franz
I von Mecklenburg-Schwerin in Ludwigslust, as the successor
to Carl August Westernholtz. Rosetti had his wife and children
followed later – probably not until the end of 1790 or 1791.
Unlike Wallerstein, the Ludwigslust Kapelle included a very
capable vocal ensemble, for which in the last years of his life
Rosetti created a series of magnificent works for chorus and
orchestra. After the two oratorios Der sterbende Jesus (1785)
and Jesus in Gethsemane (1790) had won great approval at the
court of the Archbishop of Trier, Elector Clemens Wenzeslaus,
he ordered from Rosetti in 1791 several new symphonies for his
court orchestra. On 14 December 1791 the early Wallerstein Requiem
of 1776 was performed at the Prague memorial ceremony for the
dead W. A. Mozart by a large ensemble of musicians, including
the soprano Josepha Duschek, who was a friend of Mozart. In
February 1792 King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia summoned
Rosetti to Berlin, where by the king’s order on 2 March 1792
a performance of the oratorio Jesus in Gethsemane and the Hallelujah
cantata (1791) took place in the royal palace, to which the
collected protestant ministers of Berlin were invited. In addition
to the excellent personnel of the Hofkapelle (including 76 instrumentalists
and 32 singers), the best singers of the Berlin Italian Opera
took part as soloists. The publisher Bossler, who encountered
Rosetti in Berlin, noted that he was seriously ill. The cause
of his illness was a “bad cough” (Gerber 1813/14), from which
Rosetti had already suffered for a long time. Only a few months
later, on 30 June 1792, he died in Ludwigslust “from exhaustion”
(documents of the parish church).
Rosetti left behind primarily instrumental
music, but also a lot of sacred works and Lieder. Charles Burney
considered him among the most important composers of the late
eighteenth century and even held him in the same company with
Haydn and Mozart. Also Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart dubbed
him “one of the most beloved composers” of his time and stressed
in particular the melodiousness of his music. He acknowledged
in Rosetti’s works “grace and beauty” of an “infinite, delicate
Nature.” (Ideen zu einer Ästhetik der Tonkunst. Wien 1806, p.
167 f.). The pithy, fresh melodic style that distinguishes much
of his work harkens back unmistakably to its roots in Bohemian
folk music. With his extremely elegant treatment of the Waldhorn,
Rosetti contributed much to the development of a melodically
expressive manner of composition for this instrument. Especially
distinguishing his mature compositions are a rich sonorous and
harmonic language full of expressivity, which in part looks
ahead to the Romantic period, and an overall imaginative orchestration.
Only few composers at that time knew how to write such colorful
music for wind instruments as Rosetti. Even his contemporaries
remarked: “and his writing for wind instruments, which he understands
how to employ masterfully in orchestral music, is often heavenly
beautiful.” Without question, Haydn represents an especially
important influence on his instrumental music. From him, Rosetti
may have learned his economical way of handling thematic material
and his passion for experimenting with form. Based on Haydn’s
model, he also sharpened and refined his sense for musical humor.
Ludwig Finscher, who saw in him “one of the most important symphonist
of the period,” characterized his symphonies as “for their time
not only modern, but distinctly original works, with […] Minuets,
which, as with Haydn, are inclined to resemble ‘character pieces’,
an extraordinarily flexible blending of contrapuntal and homophonic
concertante passages, and, above all, an inclination toward
thematic economy almost to the point of monothematicsim, which
is linked to a pronounced tendency for thematic development.”
(Article “Symphonie” in 2MGG, Sachteil Bd. 9. Kassel 1998, colls.
41 f.)
Günther Grünsteudel
(Translation: Sterling E. Murray)
(Source: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. 2. ed. Personenteil.
Vol. 14. Kassel 2005, colls. 417-424) |