Johann Dussek

Jan Ladislav Dussek (baptized Jan Václav Dusík, Černušák, p. 271 with surname also written as Duschek or Düssek; 12 February 176020 March 1812) was a Czech classical composer and pianist. He was an important representative of Czech music abroad in the second half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Some of his more forward-looking piano works have traits often associated with Romanticism. Dusík (
1984), p. xxiii

Dussek was one of the first piano virtuosos to travel widely throughout Europe. He performed at courts and concert venues from London to Saint Petersburg to Milan, and was celebrated for his technical prowess. During a nearly ten-year stay in London, he was instrumental in extending the size of the pianoforte, and was the recipient of one of John Broadwood's first 6-octave pianos, CC-c4. Harold Schonberg wrote that he was the first pianist to sit at the piano with his profile to the audience, earning him the appellation "le beau visage." All subsequent pianists have sat on stage in this manner. He was one of the best-regarded pianists in Europe before Beethoven's rise to prominence.

His music is marked by lyricism interrupted by sudden dynamic contrasts. As well as his many compositions for the piano, he also composed for the harp: his music for that instrument contains a great variety of figuration within a largely diatonic harmony, avoids dangerous chromatic passages and is eminently playable. His concerto writing is exciting. His music is considered standard repertoire for all harpists, particularly his Six Sonatas/Sonatinas and especially the Sonata in C minor. Less well known to the general public than that of his more renowned Classical period contemporaries, his piano music is highly valued by many teachers and not infrequently programmed. Franz Liszt has been called an indirect successor of Dussek in the composition and performance of virtuoso piano music. His music remained popular to some degree in 19th-century Great Britain and the USA, some still in print, with more available in period editions online.

Life

Early years

The Dussek family had a long history as professional musicians, starting at least as early as Jan Ladislav's grandfather Jan Josef Dusík (b. 1712), and lasting in the Moravian branch of the family at least into the 1970s. Jan Ladislav's mother, Veronika Dusíková (née Štěbetová), played the harp, an instrument, along with the piano, for which her son went on to write much music. His father, Jan Josef, was also a well-known organist and composer.Craw, p. 12 His sister, Katerina Veronika Anna Dusíkova, was also a musician and composer.

Jan Ladislav, the oldest of three children, was born on 12 February 1760 in the Bohemian town of Čáslav, where his father taught and played the organ.Craw, pp. 13–14 His first musical instruction came from his father, who began teaching him piano at 5, and organ at age 9.Craw, p. 18 His voice was also found to be good, so he also sang in the church choir.Craw, p. 19

He studied music at the Jesuit gymnasium in Jihlava, where he studied with Ladislav Špinar, its choir director; his grades were reported to be poor. From 1774 to 1776 he studied at the Jesuit gymnasium in Kutná Hora, where he also served as organist in the Santa Barbara Jesuit church.Craw, p. 20 In 1776 he went to the New City Gymnasium in Prague, where he was again reported to be a lazy student. In 1777 he enrolled in the University of Prague, where he lasted one semester.Craw, pp. 21–22

Netherlands and Hamburg

After these early studies in Bohemia he entered the services of one Captain Männer, an Austrian military man, in 1778.Craw, p. 23 Dussek traveled with the Captain to what has since become Belgium in 1779, where he became the organist at the St. Rumbold's cathedral in Mechelen. In Mechelen he gave his first public recital, playing his own compositions. He then travelled to the Dutch Republic, where a well-received concert in Amsterdam brought him to the royalty's attention. He was invited to The Hague, where he gave lessons to the three children of Stadtholder William V.Craw, p. 26 While at the Hague he gave a performance before Kaiser Joseph II of Austria, who acknowledged Dussek's prowess.Craw, p. 27

By 1782, after leaving Männer's service, he was in Hamburg, where he gave a concert on the "new English fortepiano". While in Hamburg, he may have studied with C. P. E. Bach. Encyclopædia Britannica, Dussek He also published his first works, three piano concertos and 3 violin sonatas (C 2–7), all of which were assigned Opus 1.Craw, p. 28

Eastern and Central Europe

From Hamburg he moved to St. Petersburg, where he was a favorite of Catherine the Great. While there he was introduced to a technician named Hessel, who had developed a keyboard version of the glass harmonica, an instrument Dussek went on to master.Craw, pp. 29–30Pohl