Josef Antonín Sehling (also Seeling, Seling, Sölling; 7 January 1710 – 19 September 1756) was a

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and violinist of the baroque period.

Life

Sehling was born in Toužim (German: Teusing), Western Bohemia. From an early age, he received music lessons from the local cantor, and later completed his education in Prague and Vienna. From 1737 he was second violinist in the Orchestra of St. Vitus Cathedral, and around the same time, he worked as a court musician and composer for

Count Morzin Count Morzin (Karl Joseph, Count Morzin) was an aristocrat of the Holy Roman Empire during the 18th century. He is remembered today as the first person to employ the composer Joseph Haydn as his Kapellmeister, or music director. The first few of H ...

at his palace in Prague. In 1740 he became choir director at the Church of Our Lady beneath the Chain in the

Malá Strana Malá Strana (Czech for "Little Side (of the River)", ) or more formally Menší Město pražské () is a district of the city of Prague, Czech Republic, and one of its most historic neighbourhoods. In the Middle Ages, it was a dominant center o ...

district of Prague, and at the same time filled in as the choir director at St. Vitus and the Barnabite St. Benedictus. Sehling was a very prolific composer of sacred music, namely arias, masses,

requiems A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

s and offertoria. Manuscript copies of his works are scattered throughout libraries, among others, in Nymburk, Roudnice nad Labem,

Broumov Broumov (; german: Braunau) is a town in Náchod District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,100 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monu ...

, St. Vitus cathedral, and in the monastery of the elizabethans. He was possibly associated with

Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...

. Among his pupils were the sopranist Johann Christian Preissler from

Polevsko Polevsko (german: Blottendorf) is a municipality and village in Česká Lípa District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known a ...

and the

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

Johann Oelschlegel (1724–1788), choir rector in Strahov Monastery, organ builder and composer.

Compositions (selection)

*Oratorium ''Filius prodigus'', 1739 *''Judith'', a coronation opera in celebration of the coronation Maria Theresia as queen of Bohemia, 1743 *''Constantinus'', 1751 *Missa Bella premunt hostilia *Missa De robur for auxilium

Bibliography

*Josef Weinmann: ''Egerländer Biografisches Lexikon mit ausgewählten Personen aus dem ehemaligen Reg.-Bezirk Eger''. Band 2, Druckhaus Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Männedorf/ZH 1987, , S. 190 *''Der Egerländer'' September 1981 *''Heimatbrief für die Kreise Plan-Weseritz und Tepl-Petschau.'' 1985/86 *

Constantin von Wurzbach Constantin Wurzbach Ritter von Tannenberg (11 April 1818 – 17 August 1893) was an Austrian biographer, lexicographer and author. Biography He was born in Laibach, Carniola (present-day Ljubljana, Slovenia).He later went on to complete a cou ...

: ''Sehling, Joseph Anton.'' In: ''Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich.'' 33. Theil. Kaiserlich-königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1877, S. 322 f.
Digitisation
. *Milada Jonášová: Italské operní árie v repertoáru kůru katedrály sv. Víta v Praze. Sehlingova éra 1737-1756. In Hudební věda 38, n. 3-4/2000, Academia, Praha 2001, pp. 263-301. *Milada Jonášová: Italienische Opernarien im Dom zu St. Veit in Prag. In: Norbert Dubowy – Herbert Seiffert – Andrea Sommer-Mathis – Reinhard Strohm (eds.), Italian Opera in Central Europe 1614–1780, Berlin 2008, pp. 163–206. *Václav Kapsa: Hudebníci hraběte Morzina. K dějinám šlechtických kapel v Čechách v době baroka. Etnologický ústav AV ČR, Praha 2010. *Milada Jonášová, Judith – ein Jesuitendrama zur Krönung Maria Theresias 1743 in Prag, in: Petronilla Cemus (ed.), Bohemia Jesuitica 1556–2006, Praha 2010, p. 1041–1051. *Josef Sehling. Christmas in Prague Cathedral, Collegium Marianum. Jana Semerádová, Supraphon 2014. *Milada Jonášová (ed.): Joseph Anton Sehling, Latinské pastorely / Latin pastorellas / Lateinische Pastorellen, Praha 2017.

External links

*Biography of Josef Antonín Sehling a

(Czech) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sehling, Josef Antonin 1710 births 1756 deaths People from Toužim 18th-century Bohemian musicians Czech violinists Male classical violinists Czech male classical composers Czech Classical-period composers Czech classical violinists 18th-century classical composers 18th-century male musicians