Florian Leopold Gassmann

Florian Leopold Gassmann (3 May 1729 – 21 January 1774) was a German-speaking Bohemian opera composer of the transitional period between the baroque and classical eras. He was one of the principal composers of '' dramma giocoso'' immediately before Mozart. He was one of Antonio Salieri’s teachers.

Life and career

Gassmann was born in Brüx, Bohemia, and was most likely trained by Johann Woborschil, the local chorus master. His father was a goldsmith who may well have opposed his son's choice of a musical career.

From 1757 until 1762, he wrote an opera every year for the carnival season in Venice, and was also appointed choirmaster in the girls’ conservatory in Venice in 1757. Many of the librettos he set were by the renowned Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni.

In 1763 he was called to Vienna as court ballet composer, and was held in great affection by Emperor Joseph II. In 1764 he was appointed chamber composer to the Emperor, and in 1772 court conductor.

In 1766 Gassmann met up-and-coming young Antonio Salieri in Venice, invited him to return with him to Vienna and taught him composition using Johann Joseph Fux’s textbook ''Gradus ad Parnassum''. Salieri remained in Vienna, and succeeded Gassmann as chamber composer to the Emperor on the latter's death in 1774. Another Italian composer, Giuseppe Bonno, succeeded Gassmann as court conductor.

In 1771, Gassmann founded the ''Tonkünstler-Societät'' (Society of Musical Artists), which was the first group in Vienna to give concerts for the general public, and for the benefit of its members' widows and orphans. He wrote his oratorio ''La Betulia liberata'' for that purpose.

In 1774, he died in Vienna from long-term consequences of a carriage accident sustained on his final visit to Italy.

Gassmann's two daughters, Anna Fuchs and Therese Rosenbaum, were both famous singers trained by Salieri; the younger, Therese, made a particular name for herself as a Mozart interpreter.

Charles Burney, in one of his published accounts of his many European tours surveying the musical scene, recalls, on a visit to Joseph II and his court, meeting Gassmann and finding him very forthcoming. Among the manuscripts Gassmann showed him, he reserved most of his praise for his chamber works. Burney was either not exposed to, or said nothing about, Gassmann's orchestral music.Heartz, Daniel (1995). (Norton, 411-2). .

Johann Baptist Wanhal is described by author Daniel Heartz as Gassmann's "protégé".

Major works

Operas

See List of operas by Florian Leopold Gassmann.

Cantatas

*Amore, e venere (1768)
*L’amor timido

Oratorios

*La Betulia Liberata (1772)

Sacred music

*Five masses

Instrumental music

Includes:
* 32 symphonies
* 26 overtures
* 37 string quartets include: Op. 1 six ''quartetti'' (H 431–6); Op. 2 (H 441–2, 435, 444–6); six published posthumously, 1804 (H 451–6)H numbers are those from Hill (1976), ''Thematic Catalog''.
* 8 string quintets, 6 of which were published as Op. 2 in 1772 (H 501–506)
* string trios
* 6 trios for flute, violin and viola
* 10 wind quintets

References

;Notes

;Cited sources
*Hill, George R.: "Thematic Index" in ''The Symphony 1720 - 1840 Series B - Volume X'', ed. Barry S. Brooks (New York & London, 1981) ISBN ?-???-?????-?
*Kosman, Joshua: ''Gassmann, Florian Leopold'' in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992)

;Other sources
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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gassmann, Florian Leopold
1729 births
1774 deaths
Musicians from Most (city)
People from the Kingdom of Bohemia
German Bohemian people
Austrian male classical composers
Austrian opera composers
Male opera composers
Austrian Baroque composers
Austrian Classical-period composers
18th-century German musicians
18th-century Austrian musicians
18th-century Austrian male musicians
18th-century Bohemian musicians
Road incident deaths in Austria
18th-century classical composers
String quartet composers