Introduction

INTRODUCTION Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach wrote little music for solo of the Seven Years’ War in 1763, however, that court had oboe: besides the Concerto in B-flat Major, Wq 164, and drastically reduced its expenses in order to pay war repa- the Concerto in E-flat Major, Wq 165, there is a single early rations and some musicians on the roster actually spent sonata for oboe and continuo, Wq 135, composed probably much of their time traveling.5 Fischer journeyed to Berlin by 1735.1 The oboe concertos are both assigned the date where reportedly he “had the honour, during a month, to 1765 in NV 1790 (pp. 33–34), and were likely written for accompany his majesty, Frederic, the king of Prussia, alone, some specific player who was in Berlin around then, pos- four hours every day. This circumstance was occasioned by sibly for a short time only. an offence given by C. Ph. Em. Bach,” who had been ban- One candidate is Johann Christian Fischer (1733–1800), ished from the court for a while after complaining about described by his acquaintance Charles Burney as “the most the execrable condition of the road from Potsdam to Sans pleasing and perfect performer on the hautbois.”2 His ac- Souci.6 This employment was not entirely to Fischer’s lik- complishments were not confined to his playing; in his ing: “Fischer, however, who was some time in [Frederick’s] later years in London, “Fischer, indeed, composed for him- service before he first came to England, did not seem to like self, and in a style so new and fanciful, that in point of his musical productions, thinking them, even then, some- invention as well as tone, taste, expression, and neatness what dry and old-fashioned.”7 Fischer journeyed on: “from of execution, his piece was always regarded as one of the Berlin he went to Mannheim … and thence to Paris.”8 In highest treats of the night, and heard with proportionate late 1765 or early 1766 he was at The Hague, where the rapture.”3 Fischer had been employed at the Saxon court Mozarts encountered him.9 In 1766 he visited Italy,10 and in Dresden as Jagdpfeifer from 1755 and as Kapell-Oboist in 1768 he played in Paris,11 settling in England later in from at least 1764 until 1773.4 In the period after the end that year. Fischer was clearly in Berlin on one or more oc- casions in the mid-1760s, though the statement found in 1. A concerto for oboe and violin attributed to “Bach” in Cat. Breit- kopf, Supplement 1 (1766), col. 248, is attributed to “G. S. Bach” in the 5. See Landmann, “Entwicklung der Dresdener Hofkapelle,” 184–85; non-thematic catalogue of 1764 and, in a version for solo violin and Fürstenau, Beiträge, 155–69; Burney, General History, 2:943–44. flute, to “Förster” (probably Christoph) in Cat. Breitkopf, part 2 (1762), 6. Cyclopedia, s.v. “Fischer.” col. 62. Wq 135 is published in CPEB:CW, II/1. 7. Burney, General History, 2:961. 2. The Cyclopedia; or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Science, and Lit- erature, ed. Abraham Rees (London, 1819), s.v. “Fischer, Johann Chris- 8. Cyclopedia, s.v. “Fischer.” tian,” by Charles Burney. See also the material from manuscript sources 9. Fischer is mentioned in Leopold Mozart’s Reisenotizen of 11 Sep- presented in Christopher Hogwood, “ ‘Our old great favourite’: Burney, tember 1765–10 May 1766; see Mozart: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, Bach, and the Bachists,” C. P. E. Bach Studies, ed. Annette Richards ed. Wilhelm A. Bauer, Otto Erich Deutsch, and Joseph Heinz Eibl (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 232. (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1962–75), 1:215. Wolfgang Mozart writes in a letter 3. Charles Burney, A General History of Music from the Earliest Ages to his father of 4 April 1787 that he remembers that Fischer’s playing to the Present Period (London, 1776–89; ed. Frank Mercer, New York: “had pleased me immensely, as it had all the world” (daß er mir ausser- Harcourt, Brace, 1935), 2:1018. ordentlich gefiel, so wie der ganze Welt) when they heard him at The Hague, but that now he plays “like a bad beginner . his tone is en- 4. Ortrun Landmann, “Die Entwicklung der Dresdener Hofkapelle tirely nasal and his held notes like the tremulant on the organ” (wie ein zum ‘Klassischen’ Orchester,” Basler Jahrbuch für historische Musikpraxis Elender scolar . sein Ton ist ganz aus der Nase—und seine temata ein 17 (1993): 187, cites documents listing Fischer as Jagdpfeifer in 1755 and tremulant auf der Orgel). Mozart: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, 4:40–41; Kapell-Oboist in 1765–73. His promotion evidently came before 1765, trans. Emily Anderson, The Letters of Mozart and His Family, 3rd ed. however. He was not on the list of members of the Dresden as of Kapelle (London: Macmillan, 1985), 907. 1756 printed in Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, Historisch-kritische Beyträge zur Aufnahme der Musik (Berlin, 1756), 2:475–77. Ernst Ludwig Gerber 10. Johann Adam Hiller, ed., Wöchentliche Nachrichten und Anmer- placed him in the Kapelle c. 1760; see Historisch-biographisches Lexikon kungen die Musik betreffend 1, no. 4 (22 July 1766): 27. der Tonkünstler, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1790–92), 1:417. He was listed as a 11. Constant Pierre, Histoire du Concert Spirituel 1725–1790 (Paris: member in January 1764 by Moritz Fürstenau, Beiträge zur Geschichte Société Française de Musicologie, 1975), 293 (no. 812: concert of 2 Febru- der Königlich sächsischen musikalischen Kapelle (Dresden, 1849), 156. ary 1768). [ xi ] some modern publications that he visited the city in the the mid-1760s, but was possibly a member of a musical specific years 1764 and 1767 seems to be an overly hope- family active in Berlin.17 ful interpretation of the contemporary accounts.12 If the Johann Christian Jacobi (1719–84), “a worthy oboist” exact timing and extent of his contact with Bach are not (ein braver Hoboist), was employed in the Kapelle of Prince precisely known, however, Fischer was certainly the kind and Margrave Heinrich of Prussia in 1766.18 Marpurg de- of musician for whom Bach might have composed these scribed him as having “achieved a skill on this instrument concertos. that won him the approval of connoisseurs.”19 Jacobi had Other candidates include members of the Besozzi been a member of the Kapelle of Prince and Margrave Carl family. Like Fischer, Antonio Besozzi (1714–81) and his from 1746,20 and from 1768 he was director of the Armee- son Carlo (1738–91) were employed at Dresden but also oboistenschule in Potsdam.21 He was also associated with traveled and performed elsewhere.13 Carlo “toured exten- the musical academies held every Friday at the home of the sively throughout Germany, France, and Italy and won court chamber musician Johann Gottlieb Janitsch (1708– still greater fame than his father through his then almost c. 1763), which began in 1740.22 Jacobi’s name appears on unprecedented perfection on the oboe.”14 Neither of the at least two works by Janitsch, including an autograph trio Besozzis is known to have had contact with Bach or to for oboe, violin, and bass, on which the date 21 February have been in Berlin in the mid-1760s, however. 1762 is also written.23 Many of Janitsch’s other chamber Several oboists resident in Berlin should be mentioned works include parts for oboe. as well: Another member of Prince Heinrich’s Kapelle in 1766 Carl Ludwig Matthes was “chamber musician to his was Johann Joachim Rodemann, “a good oboist” (ein guter Royal Highness Margrave Heinrich” (Cammer-Musi- Hoboist).24 cus bey Sr. Königl. Hoheit dem Marggrafen Heinrich) Joachim Wilhelm Döbbert, a member of the court Ka- in 1770; Bach published two oboe sonatas by him in the pelle from at least 1754,25 was praised as “a very good oboist” Musikalisches Vielerley in that year.15 In a review of the (ein sehr guter Hoboist) in the Wöchentliche Nachrichten Musikalisches Vielerley published in Johann Adam Hiller’s of 1766.26 His colleagues in the orchestra in that year were Musikalische Nachrichten und Anmerkungen auf das Jahr Johann Caspar Grundke and Johann August Grunert. 1770, the reviewer comments that “aside from his talent NV 1790 lists these two concertos as for “Clavier . for composition, Herr Matthes here shows himself to be auch für die Hoboe gesezt.” Several of Bach’s concertos ex- a man who is very capable on his instrument, and knows ist in versions for different instruments, but the keyboard how to play it in the most pleasing and best style.”16 He does not seem to have been in the employ of the court in 17. Other members of the family may have included Armelina Koch, “gebohrne Mattei,” a soprano in the royal Kapelle in Berlin in 1766 (Wöchentliche Nachrichten 1, no. 10 [2 Sept. 1766]: 74); Johann Andreas Matthies, in Berlin, 1764–85 and before that a regimental 12. E.g., NGII, s.v. “Fischer, Johann Christian,” by T. Herman Keahey. Stadtmusiker musician (Christoph Henzel, ed., Quellentexte zur Berliner Musikge- 13. Hiller, ed., 1, no. 4 (22 July 1766): 27. Wöchentliche Nachrichten schichte im 18. Jahrhundert [Wilhelmshaven: Noetzel, 1999], 167–70, Both Antonio and Carlo Besozzi were listed as members of the Dres- 231); and the violinist Johann Wilhelm Mathies, who was in the ser- den in 1766; according to the list, Carlo was “at that time in Kapelle vice of Prince Heinrich in 1784 (Hiller, Lebensbeschreibungen berühmter Vienna” (anjetzt zu Wien). Musikgelehrten und Tonkünstler, neuerer Zeit [Leipzig, 1784], 1:53). 14. “Er machte große Reisen durch Deutschland, Frankreich und 18.

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