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František Ignác Antonín Tůma (2 October 1704, in
Kostelec nad Orlicí Kostelec nad Orlicí (; german: Adlerkosteletz) is a town in Rychnov nad Kněžnou District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,100 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Koryta, Kostelecká Lhota and Koz ...
, Bohemia – 3 February 1774, 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 ...
) was a Czech composer of the
Baroque era The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
. He lived the greater part of his life 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 ...
, first as director of music for Franz Joseph, Count Kinsky, later filling a similar office for the widow of Emperor Charles VI. He was an important late-baroque composer, organist, gambist and theorbist.


Life

Tůma received his early musical training from his father, parish organist at Kostelec, and probably studied at the
Clementinum The Clementinum (''Klementinum'' in Czech) is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries; the City Library was also nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. In 2009, th ...
, an important Jesuit seminary in
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
. He likely sang as a tenor chorister under B. M. Černohorský (an important composer and organist) at the Minorite Church of St. James the Great, and he is believed to have received musical instruction from him. Tůma then went to Vienna, where he was active as a church musician; according to Marpurg he became a ''vice-Kapellmeister'' at Vienna in 1722. Tůma's name first appears in Viennese records in April 1727, when he got married. In 1731 he became ''Compositor und Capellen-Meister'' to Count Franz Ferdinand Kinsky, who was the High Chancellor of Bohemia. Kinsky's patronage made it possible for him to study counterpoint with
Johann Fux Johann Joseph Fux (; – 13 February 1741) was an Austrian composer, music theorist and pedagogue of the late Baroque era. His most enduring work is not a musical composition but his treatise on counterpoint, '' Gradus ad Parnassum'', which h ...
in Vienna. He participated in the premiere of Fux's opera ''Constanza e Fortezza'' along with Georg Benda and
Sylvius Leopold Weiss Sylvius Leopold Weiss (12 October 168716 October 1750) was a German composer and lutenist. 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 ...
. In 1734, Kinsky recommended Tůma for the post of the ''Kapellmeister'' to Prague Cathedral, but his recommendation arrived too late and Tůma may have remained in Kinsky's service until the latter's death in 1741. In that year he was appointed ''Kapellmeister'' to the dowager empress, the widow of Emperor Charles VI. On her death in 1750, Tůma received a pension. For the next 18 years he remained in Vienna and was active as a composer and as a player on the bass viol and the theorbo; he was esteemed by the court and the nobility, and at least one work may have been commissioned from him by the Empress
Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...
. After the death of his wife in about 1768, Tůma lived at 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 ...
monastery of Geras (Lower Austria), but in his last illness he returned to Vienna and died in the hospital of the Merciful Brethren in the Leopoldstadt.


Style

Tůma's music belongs stylistically to the late Baroque. His sacred works, which were known to
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 le ...
and
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. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
, were noted by his contemporaries for their solidity of texture and their sensitive treatment of the text as well as for their chromaticism. His instrumental music includes trio and quartet sonatas, sinfonias and partitas, mostly for strings and continuo; some of them were clearly intended for orchestral use. Among his sacred works we find some 65
mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...
es, 29
psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...
s and 5 settings of the ''
Stabat Mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Sabatier, Paul ''Life o ...
.''


Selected works

*Stabat Mater (5) *Mass in C *Mass in E-minor (64 masses) *Symphony No. 7 in A *Symphony in B-flat *Litanie Lauretanie (20) *Partita in D minor, for orchestra *Sonata in G, for orchestra *Psalm (29) *Lamentations *Miserere (1) *Magnificat (3) *Te Deum (1)


Selected discography

*The Dresden Album. Johannes Pramsohler. Ensemble Diderot. (Audax Records ADX 13701)


References


Further reading

* Theodore M. Klinka: ''The choral music of Franz Ignaz Tuma''. With a practical edition of selected choral works''. Bell & Howell, Ann Arbor, Mich. 1975.


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuma, Frantisek 1704 births 1774 deaths 18th-century classical composers 18th-century male musicians 18th-century Bohemian musicians Czech Baroque composers Czech male classical composers Czech Roman Catholics Pupils of Johann Joseph Fux People from Rychnov nad Kněžnou District