Georg Adam Joseph Schmitt (''Georgius Adamus Josephus''; baptised on 18 March 1734 in Gernsheim, Germany, died on 28 May 1791 in Amsterdam) was a German/Dutch

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 ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

music director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the d ...

, publisher, music theorist and pedagogue. He is also known as "The Dutch Haydn". Joseph Schmitt was a student of Carl Friedrich Abel, who was a student of J.S. Bach and a mentor of

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 (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

, and probably also had close contact with composers and performers at the court in Mannheim. In 1753, at age 19, Schmitt was admitted into the clergy. For a period of around 20 years worked as a musical priest at the Cistercian Eberbach Abbey (Kloster Eberbach) in the

Rheingau The Rheingau (; ) is a region on the northern side of the Rhine between the German towns of Wiesbaden and Lorch near Frankfurt, reaching from the Western Taunus to the Rhine. It is situated in the German state of Hesse and is part of the Rheing ...

, where he composed a broad range of music, from sacred to secular, chamber to

symphonic A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

. In the early 1770s, Schmitt moved to Amsterdam, where he already had compositions published by leading European music publishing firm, the Hummel brothers. Schmitt established himself quickly in the city, becoming music director at the

Felix Meritis Felix Meritis ("Happy through Merit") is the name of an intellectual society in Amsterdam, but subsequently used for the building they built for themselves on the Keizersgracht. History It was built according to a winning design by the arch ...

society, where he worked for the next two decades, and opening his own publishing firm which subsequently introduced major works by composers such as Mozart to northern Europe for the first time. In his various roles Schmitt became the most important figure in Dutch musical life in the second half of the 18th century. As a composer, Schmitt's works are beautifully crafted. His style is sparkling and cosmopolitan. It is definitely influenced by Abel, Bach's sons and the Mannheimers, but also possesses a highly refreshing originality and a highly distinctive voice - beautifully balancing elegance, energy and sturm und drang elements. As a historical figure, Schmitt has largely been ignored by the Dutch, despite his pioneering role in the realisation of the country's first purpose-built concert hall, the

. The hall opened in October 1788 with Schmitt conducting the inaugural performance. In the 19th century, the hall was the central point of Dutch music life and hosted the Dutch débuts of luminary performers including Clara Schumann and Brahms. Schmitt's compositions had been largely forgotten, until recently. Dutch-based Australian conductor Simon Murphy has been responsible for reintroducing Schmitt's music to the world in performance, through broadcasts, on disc and in new editions. In the 18th century, Schmitt's music was particularly popular in northern Europe, Scandinavia and on the east coast of the U.S. Listings of performances of his orchestral works can be found on 18th-century programmes from U.S. concert societies, and Schmitt's works are included in the listings of the holdings of most 18th-century European court, orchestral and music society libraries.

CD recordings of Schmitt's works

Together with The Hague's Baroque Orchestra, The New Dutch Academy, conductor Simon Murphy has made the world-première recordings of Schmitt's early symphonic and chamber music ( PENTATONE, 2006). These recordings include Schmitt's first Dutch written and published symphony, the Symphony in G c. 1772, and the colourful, Symphony in E flat, "The Hurdy Gurdy", written in Eberbach in the mid-1760s.

Performances

Together with the

New Dutch Academy The New Dutch Academy (NDA) is an international Dutch Baroque orchestra based in The Hague, the Netherlands. It is composed of 40 international, early music, specialist musicians, who gather in The Hague to explore 18th-century music in all of its f ...

, conductor Simon Murphy gave the modern-day premiere performances of Schmitt's symphonies and chamber music at a series of concert events in 2002 and 2003 at Schmitt's former workplace in Amsterdam, the

. Murphy performed Schmitt's symphonies and chamber music, again at the

, for the Dutch national broadcaster's radiophonic festival in 2006, Amsterdam - City of Music, broadcast live by the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

around the world. Since then, Murphy has further championed Schmitt's orchestral works including in concerts at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and for the Holland Festival of Early Music Utrecht. The Rheingau Musik Festival presented a performance of his

Missa solemnis {{Audio, De-Missa solemnis.ogg, Missa solemnis is Latin for Solemn Mass, and is a genre of musical settings of the Mass Ordinary, which are festively scored and render the Latin text extensively, opposed to the more modest Missa brevis. In French ...

at Eberbach Abbey. The Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble with soloists Heike Heilmann,

Franz Vitzthum Franz Vitzthum is a German countertenor, a male classical singer in the alto vocal range, specialising in Baroque music. He was trained as a boy singer with the Regensburger Domspatzen and studied with Kai Wessel at the Musikhochschule Köln. He ...

, Georg Poplutz and Markus Flaig, conducted by

Arno Paduch Arno Paduch (* 1965 Hattersheim am Main, Germany) is a German cornetto player, conductor and musicologist. After highschool degree in Friedberg (Germany), Paduch studied musicology at Goethe University Frankfurt (Germany) and afterwards cornetto a ...

, performed the work in the church for which it was composed and was not heard since 1803, combined with psalms and a Te Deum by Antonio Caldara.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitt, Joseph 1734 births 1791 deaths German Classical-period composers German conductors (music) German male conductors (music) 18th-century classical composers 18th-century conductors (music) German male classical composers 18th-century German composers 18th-century German male musicians People from Groß-Gerau (district)