František Ignác Antonín Tůma (2 October 1704, in
Kostelec nad Orlicí,
Bohemia – 3 February 1774, in
Vienna
en, Viennese
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) was a
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
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composer of the
Baroque era
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...
. He lived the greater part of his life in
Vienna
en, Viennese
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, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
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, first as director of music for
Franz Joseph, Count Kinsky, later filling a similar office for the widow of Emperor
Charles VI.
He was an important late-baroque composer, organist, gambist and theorbist.
Life
Tůma received his early musical training from his father, parish organist at Kostelec, and probably studied at the
Clementinum
The Clementinum (''Klementinum'' in Czech) is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries; the City Library was also nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. In 2009, th ...
, an important Jesuit seminary in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
. He likely sang as a tenor chorister under
B. M. Černohorský (an important composer and organist) at the Minorite Church of St. James the Great, and he is believed to have received musical instruction from him. Tůma then went to Vienna, where he was active as a church musician; according to
Marpurg
Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (21 November 1718 – 22 May 1795) was a German music critic, music theorist and composer. He was friendly and active with many figures of the Enlightenment of the 18th century.
Life
Little is known of Marpurg's earl ...
he became a ''vice-Kapellmeister'' at Vienna in 1722. Tůma's name first appears in Viennese records in April 1727, when he got married.
In 1731 he became ''Compositor und Capellen-Meister'' to Count Franz Ferdinand
Kinsky
The House of Kinsky (formerly Vchynští, sg. ''Vchynský'' in Czech; later (in modern Czech) Kinští, sg. ''Kinský''; german: Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau) is a prominent Czech noble family originating from the Kingdom of Bohemia. During th ...
, who was the High Chancellor of Bohemia. Kinsky's patronage made it possible for him to study counterpoint with
Johann Fux
Johann Joseph Fux (; – 13 February 1741) was an Austrian composer, music theorist and pedagogue of the late Baroque era. His most enduring work is not a musical composition but his treatise on counterpoint, '' Gradus ad Parnassum'', which has ...
in Vienna. He participated in the premiere of Fux's opera ''Constanza e Fortezza'' along with
Georg Benda
Georg Anton Benda ( cz, Jiří Antonín Benda, italic=no, link=no; 30 June 17226 November 1795) was a composer, violinist and Kapellmeister of the classical period from the Kingdom of Bohemia.
Biography
Born into a family of notable musician ...
and
Sylvius Leopold Weiss. In 1734, Kinsky recommended Tůma for the post of the ''Kapellmeister'' to Prague Cathedral, but his recommendation arrived too late and Tůma may have remained in Kinsky's service until the latter's death in 1741. In that year he was appointed ''Kapellmeister'' to the dowager empress, the widow of Emperor Charles VI. On her death in 1750, Tůma received a pension.
For the next 18 years he remained in Vienna and was active as a composer and as a player on the bass viol and the
theorbo
The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending ...
; he was esteemed by the court and the nobility, and at least one work may have been commissioned from him by the Empress
Maria Theresa. After the death of his wife in about 1768, Tůma lived at the
Premonstratensian monastery of Geras (Lower Austria), but in his last illness he returned to Vienna and died in the hospital of the Merciful Brethren in the Leopoldstadt.
Style
Tůma's music belongs stylistically to the late Baroque. His sacred works, which were known to
Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...
and
Mozart, were noted by his contemporaries for their solidity of texture and their sensitive treatment of the text as well as for their chromaticism. His instrumental music includes trio and quartet sonatas, sinfonias and partitas, mostly for strings and
continuo; some of them were clearly intended for orchestral use.
Among his sacred works we find some 65
mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
es, 29
psalm
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...
s and 5 settings of the ''
Stabat Mater.''
Selected works
*Stabat Mater (5)
*Mass in C
*Mass in E-minor (64 masses)
*Symphony No. 7 in A
*Symphony in B-flat
*Litanie Lauretanie (20)
*Partita in D minor, for orchestra
*Sonata in G, for orchestra
*Psalm (29)
*Lamentations
*Miserere (1)
*Magnificat (3)
*Te Deum (1)
Selected discography
*The Dresden Album.
Johannes Pramsohler
Johannes Pramsohler is a violinist, conductor and record producer, specialised in Historically informed performance, currently based in Paris.
Biography
Johannes Pramsohler was born 5 April 1980 in Sterzing in the autonomous Italian province of ...
. Ensemble Diderot. (Audax Records ADX 13701)
References
Further reading
* Theodore M. Klinka: ''The choral music of Franz Ignaz Tuma''. With a practical edition of selected choral works''. Bell & Howell, Ann Arbor, Mich. 1975.
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuma, Frantisek
1704 births
1774 deaths
18th-century classical composers
18th-century male musicians
18th-century Bohemian musicians
Czech Baroque composers
Czech male classical composers
Czech Roman Catholics
Pupils of Johann Joseph Fux
People from Rychnov nad Kněžnou District