Sylvius Leopold Weiss (12 October 168716 October 1750) was a German

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

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

nist. Born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of Johann Jacob Weiss, also a lutenist, he served at courts in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden, where he died. Until recently, he was thought to have been born in 1686, but recent evidence suggests that he was in fact born the following year. Weiss was one of the most important and most prolific composers of lute music in history and one of the best-known and most technically accomplished lutenists of his day. He was a teacher to Philip Hyacinth, 4th Prince Lobkowicz, and the prince's second wife Anna Wilhelmina Althan. In later life, Weiss became a friend of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and met J.S. Bach through him. Bach and Weiss were said to have competed in improvisation, as the following account by Johann Friedrich Reichardt describes: "Anyone who knows how difficult it is to play harmonic modulations and good counterpoint on the lute will be surprised and full of disbelief to hear from eyewitnesses that Weiss, the great lutenist, challenged J.S. Bach, the great harpsichordist and organist, at playing fantasies and fugues." Sylvius Weiss's son Johann Adolph Faustinus Weiss succeeded him as a Saxon court lutenist. ( Johann Adolf Hasse married to Faustina Bordoni were obviously close friends).

Works

Weiss probably wrote more than 1000 pieces for lute,

Breitkopf Breitkopf may refer to: * Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf, (1695-1777) founder of Breitkopf & Härtel * Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf, (1719-1794) son of Bernhard Cristoph Breitkopf * Michael Breitkopf, member of German band Die Toten Hosen * B ...

catalogue of 1769 includes incipits of 66 partitas by S.L.Weiss, from which 34 are lost, which consisted of about 200 pieces total
Michel Cardin - ''The London Manuscript unveiled: General context''
pp. 4,6 from which about 850 attributed pieces survived, most of them grouped into '

sonata Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

s' (not to be confused with the later classical sonata, based on sonata form) or

suite Suite may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Suite (music), a set of musical pieces considered as one composition ** Suite (Bach), a list of suites composed by J. S. Bach ** Suite (Cassadó), a mid-1920s composition by Gaspar Cassadó ** ''Suite' ...

s, which consist mostly of baroque dance pieces. Weiss also wrote chamber pieces and

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

s, but only the solo parts have survived for most of them.

External links

*
Classical Composers DatabaseSilvius Leopold Weiss

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Sylvius Leopold 1687 births 1750 deaths People from Grodków People from Austrian Silesia Composers for lute German Baroque composers 18th-century classical composers German lutenists German male classical composers 18th-century German composers 18th-century German male musicians