Hermann Friedrich Raupach (December 21, 1728 – December 12, 1778) was an 18th-century German composer.

Biography

Hermann Raupach was born at

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...

in Germany, the son and pupil of composer and organist Christoph Raupach (1686-1744) and the nephew of Lutheran church historian Bernhard Raupach (1682–1745). Raupach was a

harpsichordist A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...

, who became the assistant of

Vincenzo Manfredini Vincenzo Manfredini (22 October 1737 – 5 or 16 August 1799) was an Italian composer, harpsichordist and a music theorist. Biography Manfredini was born in Pistoia, near Florence. He studied music with his father, Francesco Onofrio Manfre ...

, at the Russian Imperial Court Orchestra in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in 1755. In 1758 he was appointed a

Kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

and court composer. Some of his operas were performed in Russian. His ''Alceste'' (''Альцеста'', 1758) is regarded as "the second Russian opera" (after

Araja Francesco Domenico Araja (or Araia, Russian: Арайя) (June 25, 1709 in Naples, Kingdom of Sicily – between 1762 and 1770 in Bologna, States of the Church) was an Italian composer who spent 25 years in Russia and wrote at least 14 ope ...

's ''

Tsefal i Prokris ''Cephalus and Prokris'' (russian: Цефал и Прокрис – ''Tsefal i Prokris''), is an opera seria in three acts by the Italian composer Francesco Araja. Dating to 1755, it was the first opera written in the Russian language. Araja compo ...

'', 1755). The role of Admet in this opera was sung by

Dmitry Bortniansky Dmitry Stepanovich Bortniansky ; ; alternative transcriptions of names are ''Dmitri Bortnianskii'', and ''Bortnyansky'', group=n (28 October 1751 – ) was a Russian Imperial composer of Ukrainian Cossack origin. He was a composer, harpsichord ...

, called the "

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jaso ...

of the

Neva River The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it i ...

In 1762 Raupach left St Petersburg for Hamburg and then to Paris, where he met

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

and improvised with him on harpsichord in 4 hands. Mozart arranged some movements from his sonatas for piano and string orchestra. The Sonata for Piano and Violin in A major, that was listed as K. 61, first appeared under Mozart's name in the

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf. The catalogue currently contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on ...

''OEuvres'' in 1804. It had been in Baron Taddaus von Dürnitz collection, and was mistakenly thought to be by Mozart. In 1912

Téodor de Wyzewa Téodor de Wyzewa, born as Teodor Wyżewski (12 September 1862 – 15 April 1917), was a writer, critic, and translator of Polish descent, born in Kałusik in the Russian sector of Poland near Kamieniec Podolski (Кам'янець-Подільсь� ...

and

Georges de Saint-Foix Georges de Saint-Foix (2 March 1874 – 26 May 1954) was a French musicologist, connoisseur of Mozart and specialist of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. He is the son of the Count of Saint-Foix of the same name, the very ...

discovered that the real composer was Hermann Raupach. They believed the young Mozart copied this sonata to use for an arrangement for a piano concerto, as he had used works of Raupach in K. 37, K. 39 and K. 41; see also: Piano Concertos Nos. 1–4 (Mozart). Later Raupach returned to St Petersburg, where he became the instructor of composition and singing at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1768 to 1778. The composers Dmitry Bortniansky and

Yevstigney Fomin Yevstigney Ipat'yevich Fomin (russian: Евстигне́й Ипа́тьевич Фоми́н) (born St. Petersburg – died St. Petersburg c ) was a Russian opera composer of Ukrainian originShuliar, Orest: History of Vocal Art. Ivano- ...

were among his pupils. He died in St Petersburg.

Works

;Operas *''Alceste'', (russian: Альцеста – Alcesta, text by

Alexander Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov (russian: Алекса́ндр Петро́вич Сумаро́ков; , Moscow – , Moscow) was a Russian poet and playwright who single-handedly created classical theatre in Russia, thus assisting Mikhail Lomonos ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

(1758, St Petersburg), *''The New Monastery'' (1759) *''

Siroe ''Siroe, re di Persia'' ('' Siroes, King of Persia'', HWV 24), is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was his 12th opera for the Royal Academy of Music and was written for the sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordo ...

'', in Italian (1760, St Petersburg) *''Good Soldiers'' (''Добрые солдаты – Dobryie soldaty'', February 29, 1780, St Petersburg) ;Others *About 15(?)

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

s *Cantatas to the

Psalms 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 ...

in Russian translation by

Mikhail Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (; russian: Михаил (Михайло) Васильевич Ломоносов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ , a=Ru-Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov.ogg; – ) was a Russian Empire, Russian polymath, s ...

(His ''Psalm 145'' was especially popular) *Violin sonatas

Bibliography

*Gerber E. L.: ''Altes Lexicon'', II, p. 239

References

External links

Opera composers R
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raupach, Hermann German Classical-period composers German opera composers Male opera composers 1728 births 1778 deaths 18th-century classical composers German male classical composers People from Stralsund 18th-century German composers 18th-century German male musicians