Count Luka Sorkočević ( it, Luca Sorgo; January 13, 1734 – September 11, 1789) was

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 Def ...

from the

Republic of Ragusa The Republic of Ragusa ( dlm, Republica de Ragusa; la, Respublica Ragusina; it, Repubblica di Ragusa; hr, Dubrovačka Republika; vec, Repùblega de Raguxa) was an aristocratic maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik (''Ragusa'' ...

. His music has been preserved, like other Sorkočević family possessions, in the archives of the

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranea ...

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Angl ...

. He is known as the first Croatian symphonist.

Biography

Luka (Lukša) Sorkočević was born in

and received an extensive education. His music teacher was the Italian composer

Giuseppe Valenti Giuseppe Valenti was a Sicilian sculptor who was active in the late 19th century. Valenti was born in Palermo, he was the son of , who was also a sculptor and wood carver. His work includes a seated statue of Saint Publius at St Paul's Cath ...

, who was ''maestro di cappella'' of

Dubrovnik Cathedral The Assumption Cathedral ( hr, Katedrala Velike Gospe, Katedrala Marijina Uznesenja) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It is the seat of the Diocese of Dubrovnik. History The cathedral was built on the site of several former ca ...

in the 1750s. He continued his education in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

where he studied

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

with Rinaldo di Capua. Later, Sorkočević married a girl from the Luccari (Lukarević) family and held several posts in various branches of Dubrovnik politics and society. During his relatively brief stint in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

as the ambassador to the imperial court he met several leading composers of his time, like

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 ...

and

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

, and the famous poet

Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti. Early life Me ...

– a valuable experience for his later life and work. With serious health problems, he committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

by throwing himself from the third floor of his palace in Dubrovnik in 1789, at the age of 55. Although he also wrote a few vocal pieces, his most interesting works are the eight symphonies, the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

sonata and the overture trio for the

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedles ...

. These instrumental works belong to the transitional period between baroque and classicism. They can neither be associated with the '' empfindsamer Stil'' – indicated by the fact that they are exclusively written in major keys – nor with the modernism of the Mannheim school. Nevertheless, Sorkočević's music contains traces of both styles. The ''Largo'' of the Symphony No. 7 shows the kind of expression which is associated with the ''Empfindsamkeit'' and the first movement of the Symphony No. 1 contains the crescendi for which the Mannheim school was famous. The Sonata in A-major for piano was written in 1754.

References

External sources

Biography in the Croatian EncyclopediaSorkočević and his instrumental worksBiography
(in Croatian)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorkocevic, Luka Croatian Baroque composers Ragusan diplomats Luka People from Dubrovnik 1734 births 1789 deaths Classical-period composers Composers for cello Composers for violin Ragusan nobility 18th-century classical composers 18th-century male musicians Male classical composers 18th-century Croatian nobility 18th-century suicides

Biography

See also

References

External sources