Mozart Contemporaries / Johann Dussek
Jan Ladislav Dussek (more known as Václav Jan Dusík) (Feb 12, 1760 - Mar 20, 1812) was a Czech composer and pianist. He was born at Caslav, Bohemia (now Czech Republic).
The Dussek family has a long history as professional musicians, starting from Jan Ladislav's grandfather, and lasting into the 1970s. Jan Ladislav is often known as "Dussek the Great". His mother was a harpist, and therefore not surprisingly he composed much music for the harp as well as for the piano.
After early studies, Dussek traveled to the Netherlands and Germany, where he may have studied with C.P.E. Bach. From there, he moved to St. Petersburg in Russia, where he was a favourite of Catherine the Great for a time.
However, he fled St. Petersburg just ahead of Catherine's secret police, who accused him of involvement in a plot to assassinate Catherine. Given Dussek's lifelong royalist sympathies, his well-attested personal good looks, and Catherine's proclivity for beautiful young men, a different explanation seems more probable.
In Lithuania, he worked as music director for Prince Radziwill for a year, after which he toured Germany as a virtuoso performer on the piano and on the glass harmonica. Then he went to France where he became a favourite of Marie Antoinette. On the outbreak of the revolution in 1789, Dussek this time from from France to London. Continuing his romantic exploits, he took with him the harpist wife of the composer Jean-Baptiste Krumpholz, who drowned himself into the Seine as a consequence.
Whilst in London, Dussek continued his career as a virtuoso performer, gaining great praise from Joseph Haydn, who wrote a glowing note to Dussek's father after one of the Salomon concerts. Dussek also formed a partnership with Corri, a music publisher. Their business went bankrupt. He soon abandonded Madame Krumpholz in favour of Corri's young daughter, Sophie, whom he married. Sophie Dussek was a singer, pianist, and harpist who later became known in her own right. They had a daughter, but the marriage was not happy.
Apart from his own music, Dussek is important in the history of music because of his friendship with John Broadwood, the developer of the "English Action" piano. Because his own music demanded strength and range not available in the then current pianos, he pushed Broadwood into several extensions of the range and sonority of the instrument. It was a Broadwood instrument with Dussek's improvements that was sent to Beethoven. When the firm of Dussek and Corri went bankrupt, Dussek left England for Germany, leaving behind his family, and with his father-in-law in a debtor's jail.
Initially, he became one of the first "glamour" touring pianists in Germany, preceding the famous Hungarian Franz Liszt. According to Louis Spohr, Dussek was the first to turn the piano sideways on the stage "so that the ladies could admire his handsome profile." Soon enough, he worked for Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, who treated him more as a friend and colleague than as an employee. When the prince was killed in the Battle pf Saalfeld, Dussek wrote the moving Sonata in F sharp minor, Elégie harmonique, Op. 61 (C. 211).
In 1807, Dussek returned to Paris in the employ of Talleyrand, the powerful French foreign minister. The remainder of his life he spent performing, teaching and composing in Prussia and France. Soon ageing took over, he became fat, eventually unable to reach the piano keyboard. Sadly, too, he developed fondness for strong drink which hastened his death.
Dussek was an important predecessor of the Romantic composers for piano, especially Chopin, Schumann and Mendelssohn. It remains a controversial point whether or not the later composers were influenced by Dussek, since his works were out of fashion by the time the later composers were writing. Stylistically, Dussek has more in common with the Romantic era than the Classical era.
Image Credit:
Johann Dussek. Public Domain
Resources:
Grove, George (et al) (1880). A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (A.D. 1450-1889), volume 1. Macmillan.
Jan Ladislav Dussek. Encyclopedia Britanica. Accessed February 12, 2014.
Czech composer, harpist and pianist: Johann "Jan" Ladislaus Dussek
Jan Ladislav Dussek (more known as Václav Jan Dusík) (Feb 12, 1760 - Mar 20, 1812) was a Czech composer and pianist. He was born at Caslav, Bohemia (now Czech Republic). The Dussek family has a long history as professional musicians, starting from Jan Ladislav's grandfather, and lasting into the 1970s. Jan Ladislav is often known as "Dussek the Great". His mother was a harpist, and therefore not surprisingly he composed much music for the harp as well as for the piano.
After early studies, Dussek traveled to the Netherlands and Germany, where he may have studied with C.P.E. Bach. From there, he moved to St. Petersburg in Russia, where he was a favourite of Catherine the Great for a time.
However, he fled St. Petersburg just ahead of Catherine's secret police, who accused him of involvement in a plot to assassinate Catherine. Given Dussek's lifelong royalist sympathies, his well-attested personal good looks, and Catherine's proclivity for beautiful young men, a different explanation seems more probable.
In Lithuania, he worked as music director for Prince Radziwill for a year, after which he toured Germany as a virtuoso performer on the piano and on the glass harmonica. Then he went to France where he became a favourite of Marie Antoinette. On the outbreak of the revolution in 1789, Dussek this time from from France to London. Continuing his romantic exploits, he took with him the harpist wife of the composer Jean-Baptiste Krumpholz, who drowned himself into the Seine as a consequence.
Whilst in London, Dussek continued his career as a virtuoso performer, gaining great praise from Joseph Haydn, who wrote a glowing note to Dussek's father after one of the Salomon concerts. Dussek also formed a partnership with Corri, a music publisher. Their business went bankrupt. He soon abandonded Madame Krumpholz in favour of Corri's young daughter, Sophie, whom he married. Sophie Dussek was a singer, pianist, and harpist who later became known in her own right. They had a daughter, but the marriage was not happy.
Apart from his own music, Dussek is important in the history of music because of his friendship with John Broadwood, the developer of the "English Action" piano. Because his own music demanded strength and range not available in the then current pianos, he pushed Broadwood into several extensions of the range and sonority of the instrument. It was a Broadwood instrument with Dussek's improvements that was sent to Beethoven. When the firm of Dussek and Corri went bankrupt, Dussek left England for Germany, leaving behind his family, and with his father-in-law in a debtor's jail.
Initially, he became one of the first "glamour" touring pianists in Germany, preceding the famous Hungarian Franz Liszt. According to Louis Spohr, Dussek was the first to turn the piano sideways on the stage "so that the ladies could admire his handsome profile." Soon enough, he worked for Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, who treated him more as a friend and colleague than as an employee. When the prince was killed in the Battle pf Saalfeld, Dussek wrote the moving Sonata in F sharp minor, Elégie harmonique, Op. 61 (C. 211).
In 1807, Dussek returned to Paris in the employ of Talleyrand, the powerful French foreign minister. The remainder of his life he spent performing, teaching and composing in Prussia and France. Soon ageing took over, he became fat, eventually unable to reach the piano keyboard. Sadly, too, he developed fondness for strong drink which hastened his death.
Dussek was an important predecessor of the Romantic composers for piano, especially Chopin, Schumann and Mendelssohn. It remains a controversial point whether or not the later composers were influenced by Dussek, since his works were out of fashion by the time the later composers were writing. Stylistically, Dussek has more in common with the Romantic era than the Classical era.
Image Credit:
Johann Dussek. Public Domain
Resources:
Grove, George (et al) (1880). A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (A.D. 1450-1889), volume 1. Macmillan.
Jan Ladislav Dussek. Encyclopedia Britanica. Accessed February 12, 2014.
(c) February 2015. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Hi Tel
ReplyDeleteI knew nothing about Dussek so I "Googled" him and discovered what a colourful life he led!! They should make a film about him (if they haven't already done so) :-)
Liz xx.
Hi Liz,
ReplyDeleteIndeed, too colourful! I meant to include his brief but I had no time after posting a one-liner on him.
I have to feature him as a part of my interest, being a contemporary of our Wolferl.
You're right, they should make a film about him - in the league of Casanova and Beaumarchais. ;>)
Cheers!
T
The story that Dussek took the harp composer Krumpholz's wife is apocryphal.
ReplyDelete