Johann Mattheson
Johann Mattheson (28 September 1681 – 17 April 1764) was a German composer, critic, lexicographer and music theorist. His writings on the late Baroque and early Classical period were highly influential, specifically, "his biographical and theoretical works were widely disseminated and served as the source for all subsequent lexicographers and historians".
Johann Mattheson
Engraving by Johann Jacob Haid, painting by J. S. Wahl · This image has been extracted from another file · Public domain
- Born
- 1681. · Hamburg.
- Died
- 1764. · Hamburg.
- Nationality
- Germany.
- Occupation
- composer, lexicographer, linguist, organist, diplomat, musicologist, music theorist and writer.
- Fields
- opera.
- Movements
- Baroque music.
- Teachers
- Johann Nikolaus Hanff and Johann Theile.
- Languages
- German.
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Documentary summary
Johann Mattheson (28 September 1681 – 17 April 1764) was a German composer, critic, lexicographer and music theorist. His writings on the late Baroque and early Classical period were highly influential, specifically, "his biographical and theoretical works were widely disseminated and served as the source for all subsequent lexicographers and historians".
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gnd · 622375-8 · museum · 895a9155-5b85-43aa-b4e7-67d9b0989c39 · wikidata · Q170333 · wikipedia · Johann Mattheson
In this article
Early life and career
Early life and career
Johann Mattheson was born on 28 September 1681 in Hamburg. The son of a prosperous tax collector, Mattheson received a broad liberal education and, aside from general musical training, took lessons in keyboard instruments, violin, composition and singing. By age nine he was singing and playing the organ in church and was a member of the chorus of the Hamburg opera. He made his solo debut with the Hamburg opera in 1696 in female roles and, after his voice changed, sang tenor at the opera, conducted rehearsals and composed operas himself. He was cantor at St. Mary's Cathedral, Hamburg from 1718 until increasing deafness led to his retirement from that post in 1728. Mattheson's chief occupation from 1706 was as a professional diplomat. He had studied English in school and spoke it fluently. He became tutor to the son of the English ambassador Sir John Wich and then secretary to the ambassador. He went on diplomatic missions abroad representing the ambassador. In 1709 he married Catharina Jennings, the daughter of an English clergyman; they did not have any children.
Friendship with Handel
Friendship with Handel
Mattheson was a close friend of George Frideric Handel, although he nearly killed Handel in a sudden quarrel during a performance of Mattheson's opera Die unglückselige Kleopatra, Königin von Ägypten in 1704. Handel was saved only by a large button which turned aside Mattheson's sword. The two were afterwards reconciled and remained in correspondence for life: shortly after his friend's death, Mattheson translated John Mainwaring's biography of Handel into German and had it published in Hamburg at his own expense ("auf Kosten des Übersetzers") in 1761.
Death
Death
After his death in 1764, Johann Mattheson was buried in the vault of Hamburg's St. Michaelis Church where his grave can be visited.
Operas
Operas
Die unglückselige Kleopatra, Königin von Ägypten (1704) Boris Goudenow (1710)
Oratorios
Oratorios
Die heilsame Geburt (1715), Christmas oratorium Das größte Kind (1720), Christmas oratorium Der gegen seine Brüder barmherzige Joseph (1727), oratorium Der liebreiche und geduldige David
Engraving by Johann-Jakob Haid, after a painting by Wahll.
Johann Jakob Haid / After Johann Salomon Wahl · This file comes from Gallica Digital Library and is available under the digital ID btv1b8422451x
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1764
Johann Mattheson died in 1764 at Hamburg.
Literary and musical legacy
Mattheson is mainly famous as a music theorist. He was the most prolific writer on performance practice, theatrical style, and harmony of the German Baroque. He is particularly important for his work on the relationship between the disciplines of rhetoric and music, for example in Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre, Hamburg 1713, and Der vollkommene Capellmeister, Hamburg 1739. However, his books draw attention also because Mattheson was a brilliant polemicist and his theories on music are often full of pedantry and pseudo-erudition. The bulk of his compositional output was vocal, including eight operas, and numerous oratorios and cantatas. He also wrote a few sonatas and some keyboard music, including pieces meant for keyboard instruction. All of his music, except for one opera, one oratorio, and a few collections of instrumental music, went missing after World War II, but was given back to Hamburg from Yerevan, Armenia, in 1998. This includes four operas and most of the oratorios. The manuscripts are now located at the State and University Library Hamburg.
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- MusicBrainz artist record for Johann Mattheson
Scholarly · MetaBrainz Foundation
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q170333: Johann Mattheson
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
scholarly publication
- Mattheson, Johann (opera), Oxford Music Online, 2002
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2002
reference work
- “Johann Mattheson”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Cambridge University Press. Bach and the Riddle of the Number Alphabet. 116. 21 February 1991. 978-0-521-36191-0.
- 2.Welter, Kathryn Jane. Johann Pachelbel: Organist, Teacher, Composer, A Critical Reexamination of His Life, Works, and Historical Significance. Harvard University. 6. 1998. 42665284.
- 3.Buelow, George J[ohn]. Mattheson, Johann. 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.18097.
- 4.Georg Friderich Händels Lebensbeschreibung, nebst einem Verzeichnisse seiner Ausübungswerke und deren Beurtheilung; übersetzet, auch mit einigen Anmerkungen, absonderlich über den hamburgischen Artikel, versehen vom Legations-Rath Mattheson, Hamburgh, auf Kosten des Übersetzers, 1761 (accessible for free online as a Google ebook).
- 5.Gary, Fred B. Some Publications of Johann Matteson. University of Rochester Library Bulletin. XVII. 3. Spring 1962.
- 6.Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre, extracts, koelnklavier.de
- 7.Der vollkommene Capellmeister, extracts, koelnklavier.de
- 8.Agathe Sueur, Le Frein et l'Aiguillon. Eloquence musicale et nombre oratoire (XVIe–XVIIIe siècle), Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2014 ——. "Johann Mattheson et le pédantisme: des usages de l'érudition dans la théorie musicale allemande au XVIIIe siècle", , 2014, 100/1, pp. 3–36.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 3
- Bukofzer, Manfred R. Music in the Baroque Era: From Monteverdi to Bach. W. W. Norton & Company. 1947. 9780393097450.
- Stubbs, Stephen. "Johann Mattheson—the Russian Connection: The Rediscovery of Boris Goudenow and His Other Lost Operas". Early Music 33, no. 2 (May 2005): 283–92.
- Rhetoric and music. 2001.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Mattheson, Johann (opera), Oxford Music Online, 2002Crossref registry
VerifiedInstitutional database
MusicBrainz artist record for Johann MatthesonMetaBrainz Foundation
VerifiedInstitutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q170333: Johann MatthesonWikimedia Foundation
Verifiedreference work
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