Johann Georg Pisendel ( – 25 November 1755) was a German
Baroque violinist and composer who, for many years, led the
Court Orchestra in Dresden as
concertmaster
The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signifi ...
, then the finest instrumental ensemble in Europe. He was the leading violinist of his time, and composers such as
Tomaso Albinoni
Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (8 June 1671 – 17 January 1751) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. His output includes operas, concertos, sonatas for one to six instruments, sinfonias, and solo cantatas. While famous in his day as an opera comp ...
,
Georg Philipp Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hild ...
and
Antonio Vivaldi all dedicated violin compositions to him.
Life
Pisendel was born in
Cadolzburg
Cadolzburg (outdated also ''Kadolzburg'', colloquially pronounced "Kalschbuʳch" or "Sporch" ) is a municipality in the Middle Franconian district of Fürth, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated west of Fürth. Its name derives from its central ...
, a small town near
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
, where his father Simon Pisendel was the
cantor
A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds.
In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...
and organist. At the age of nine, Johann Georg became a choirboy at the court chapel of
Ansbach
Ansbach (; ; East Franconian: ''Anschba'') is a city in the German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränkische Rezat, ...
, where the singer
Francesco Antonio Pistocchi
Francesco Antonio Mamiliano Pistocchi, nicknamed Pistocchino (165913 May 1726), was an Italian singer, composer and librettist.Talbot, Michael''The chamber cantatas of Antonio Vivaldi'' Boydell Press, 2006, p. 52.
Pistocchino was born in Pale ...
was music director, and violinist and composer
Giuseppe Torelli
Giuseppe Torelli (22 April 1658 – 8 February 1709) was an Italian violist, violinist, teacher, and composer of the middle Baroque era.
Torelli is most remembered for contributing to the development of the instrumental concerto., especially co ...
was
concert master
The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signifi ...
. It is thought that Pisendel studied the violin with Torelli. After his voice broke, Pisendel went on to play the violin in the Court Orchestra. In 1709, he left Dresden for
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
to further his musical studies.
On the way to Leipzig, he met
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
at
Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...
. Pisendel was a member of the
Collegium Musicum
The Collegium Musicum was one of several types of musical societies that arose in German and German- Swiss cities and towns during the Reformation and thrived into the mid-18th century.
Generally, while societies such as the (chorale) cultivated ...
founded by
Georg Philipp Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hild ...
, and conducted it in 1710/11, while
Melchior Hoffmann went on a concert tour. In 1711, after he performed at
Darmstadt in an opera by
Christoph Graupner, Pisendel was offered a position in the court orchestra there, but declined.
In 1711, he was offered a position as leading violinist at the
Dresden Court Orchestra, which he accepted and began in January 1712. He studied composition there with
Johann David Heinichen. He remained with the Dresden orchestra for the rest of his life. He was sent to represent the culture of Dresden in Europe by Elector
Frederick Augustus II, to Paris in 1714, to Berlin in 1715, and to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
in 1716, where he stayed for nine months and studied with
Antonio Vivaldi.
In 1730, Pisendel became officially concert master of the Dresden Court Orchestra, a position he had filled already since
Jean-Baptiste Volumier Jean-Baptiste Volumier (ca. 1670 - 7 October 1728) was an eighteenth century violinist, composer and concertmaster.
Life
Volumier was born in around 1670 or 1677. Sources differ. He was probably born in the Spanish Flanders although some earlier ...
had died in 1728. Pisendel's pupils included
Franz Benda Franz may refer to:
People
* Franz (given name)
* Franz (surname)
Places
* Franz (crater), a lunar crater
* Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada
* Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...
and
Johann Gottlieb Graun Johann Gottlieb Graun (1702/1703 – 28 October 1771) was a German Baroque/Classical era composer and violinist, born in Wahrenbrück. His brother Carl Heinrich was a singer and also a composer, and is the better known of the two.
Johann Gottlieb ...
.
Pisendel died in Dresden.
Work
![Violin Sonata in D major by Johann Georg Pisendel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Violin_Sonata_in_D_major_by_Johann_Georg_Pisendel.png)
Pisendel's surviving compositions are few in number but high in quality. All of his surviving works are instrumental. They include ten
violin concerto
A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...
s, four concertos for orchestra, and two
violin sonata
A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, often accompanied by a keyboard instrument and in earlier periods with a bass instrument doubling the keyboard bass line. The violin sonata developed from a simple baroque form with no fixed fo ...
s. His sonata for violin solo in A minor possibly influenced Bach's
works in the genre.
Bach possibly wrote his violin sonatas for Pisendel.
Tomaso Albinoni
Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (8 June 1671 – 17 January 1751) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. His output includes operas, concertos, sonatas for one to six instruments, sinfonias, and solo cantatas. While famous in his day as an opera comp ...
, Vivaldi and Telemann all dedicated works to him. A collection of extant instrumental works from the first half of the eighteenth century, which were kept in the so-called Schrank II (Cabinet II) of the
Hofkirche, includes these dedications, numerous manuscripts with performance instructions in Pisendel's own hand, and scores he had copied himself. The
Saxon State and University Library Dresden and the German Research Foundation completed digitizing the Schrank II collection in the summer of 2011, leading researchers to further study Pisendel's musical legacy.
Recordings
* Pisendel. Neue Sonaten. Newly discovered sonatas for violin and continuo by Pisendel.
Scaramuccia
Scaramouche () or Scaramouch (; from Italian Scaramuccia , literally "little skirmisher") is a stock clown character of the 16th-century commedia dell'arte (comic theatrical arts of Italian literature). The role combined characteristics of the ...
(Snakewood Editions, 2020)
* Violin concertos from Dresden. Pisendel, Heinichen, Fasch, Handel, Telemann.
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 ...
. International Baroque Players. (
Raumklang RK 3105)
* J. G. Pisendel: Dresden Concertos. Concerti con varii strumenti (Concertos for various instruments). Performed by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra with
Gottfried von der Goltz
Gottfried von der Goltz (born 1 June 1964 in Würzburg, Germany) is a German violinist and conductor, specialising in the baroque repertoire. Born into the ancient Brandenburgish Goltz family, Gottfried was a great-grandson of the former commande ...
and
Petra Müllejans, solo violinists, conducted by
Gottfried von der Goltz
Gottfried von der Goltz (born 1 June 1964 in Würzburg, Germany) is a German violinist and conductor, specialising in the baroque repertoire. Born into the ancient Brandenburgish Goltz family, Gottfried was a great-grandson of the former commande ...
. (Carus 83301)
* Per Monsieur Pisendel. Violin sonatas by Vivaldi, Albinoni, & Pisendel. Performed by La Serenissima conducted by
Adrian Chandler (Avie 0018) Six violin sonatas dedicated to or composed by Pisendel himself.
* 1717. Memories of a Journey to Italy. Pisendel, Vivaldi, Montanari, Fanfani, Valentini and Albinoni.
Ensemble Scaramuccia. (
Snakewood Editions, 2018). Music collected or composed by Pisendel during his journey to Italy 1716–1717
* Concerto in G minor for violin and orchestra, Il pomo d'oro,
Dmitry Sinkovsky, violin and conductor. CD Naîve 2019
References
Cited sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Hans Rudolf Jung: ''Johann Georg Pisendel: Leben und Werk. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Violinmusik der Bach-Zeit''. Univ. Diss, Jena 1956.
* Kai Köpp: ''Johann Georg Pisendel (1687–1755) und die Anfänge der neuzeitlichen Orchesterleitung''. Schneider, Tutzing 2005, .
* Albrecht Treuheit: ''Johann Georg Pisendel: (1687–1755); Geiger – Konzertmeister – Komponist; Dokumentation seines Lebens, seines Wirkens u. Umgangs u. seines Werkes; nachgezeichnet aus Biogr., Kommentaren u. Veröff. d. letzten 250 Jahre.'' Edelmann, Nürnberg 1987.
External links
*
Johann Georg Pisendel Gesellschaft(in German)
The "Schrank II" or the legacy of Concert Master Johann Georg Pisendelsnakewoodeditions.com 5 January 2019
Naxos Records
Pisendel, Johann Georgbmlo.de
Johann Georg PisendelAssociated Chamber Music Players
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pisendel, Johann Georg
1687 births
1755 deaths
People from Fürth (district)
German classical violinists
Male classical violinists
German violinists
German male violinists
German Baroque composers
18th-century classical composers
German male classical composers
18th-century German composers
18th-century German male musicians