pleted his education by doing the “Grand Tour” of Program Notes Europa, taking lessons with in Rome, in Naples, in Paris, and G. F. Handel in London, who urged him First, let me express my deep gratitude to Seattle to remain. When Crown Prince Frederick II of Prus- Orchestra concert master Linda Melsted sia (the later ) decided to study for introducing to me the idea of today’s program, the , Quantz was chosen as his teacher, and af- drawing from one very special source: The so-called ter Frederick had become King of Prussia, accepted “Schranck II” used to be a music cabinet in the Cath- a position as teacher, flute maker, and at olic Court Church in , which held compo- the court in Berlin/. sitions collected by concert master . This music library, consisting of nearly , much like Quantz, became 1,800 volumes, reflects the core repertory of in- a composer against his family’s wishes. After matric- strumental music at the court of August the Strong. ulating at the University of in the faculty of While the actual cabinet is lost, the collection has Law, he eventually settled on a career in music (even survived and is now preserved in the “Sächsische though he was an autodidact). While this career Landesbibliothek”. Almost 200 are rep- turned out extremely prosperous, his personal life resented, the most famous of their time, but also was always troubled: His first wife died shortly after masters that have fallen into oblivion. their marriage, and his second wife had numerous extramarital affairs, and eventually ruined the family Even for the lofty standards of European music household by her addiction to gambling. Telemann history, the time of the Saxon-Polish Union (1697- is one of the most prolific composers in history. Jo- 1763) showed an extraordinary prosperity of the hann Sebastian Bach made him the godfather and arts, with the legendary Dresden Orchestra in the namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel. His music center of attention of music lovers throughout Eu- incorporates and amalgamates the most important rope. Therefore, our program summits some of the national styles including French, Italian and German, finest writing of the high and late Baroque era. but is also inspired by popular music, in particular from Poland and other Eastern European countries. Johann Christoph Pez, born in , was discov- ered and promoted by Prince Maximilian Emmanuel, Franz Jakob Horneck was a bassoonist and priest; Elector of Bavaria, who offered to him the opportu- had travelled to and Rome, however proba- nity to study with leading violinist and composer Ar- bly did not meet Vivaldi, even though that has been cangelo Corelli in Rome. Like many of his contempo- handed down in the literature. Later, he worked as a raries, Pez was profoundly influenced by the French priest in Erfurt and Würzburg and died young, in his style, and he was one (out of many) of the better early 30’s in Dresden. imitators of Jean-Baptiste Lully which becomes evi- dent in his Orchestral Suite in d minor. , a violinist and composer, also lost his father early, at the age of 12. He found is a rather well-known mentors in the family who helped him connect to figure to us musicians in the field of period- per composer Reinhard Keiser in . Later, he formance practice, especially as the author of On studied with (Bach’s predeces- Playing the Flute (a treatise on virtually all aspects of sor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig), and Christoph music making) but also as composer of hundreds of Graupner in . Fasch, alongside Graupner flute and . His father was a black- and Telemann, was invited to apply for the Thom- smith who died when Johann was 10 years old. His askantor position (which Bach eventually filled) but father begged him to follow in his footsteps, howev- chose to not enter the competition. er, Quantz decided to pursue his own vocation. He joined the circle of musicians in Dresden where he Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello, a North Italian vi- studied with and olinist and composer, was like Pez, supported by became good friends with Johann Georg Pisendel Maximilian II Emmanuel, and chosen as member of who greatly influenced his style. Later, Quantz com- his court orchestra in Munich; he succeeded him also as music director in , after Pez passed even a relatively small court chapel like Ansbach, away. Life there was apparently not easy. He had to where he became a 9-year old choir boy, intro- fight the aggressive rivalry of Reinhard Keiser, and duced him to world leading violinist and composer) even was laid off for a while, a period of artistic -fer who happened to be the concert tility though. The result leaves us concertos, sym- master there. Pisendel later met Bach in , phonies, and also the odd 18 pieces for gallichone, and Telemann in Leipzig, joining the famous Colle- also known as mandora, a -type of instrument. gium Musicum (for which Bach in the 1730s would compose his concertos). He finally was Johann Georg Pisendel was born in a very small appointed concert master of the Dresden Court town near . Growing up with a father Orchestra and held this position to the end of his who was cantor and organist set him up for mu- career. sic. Thanks to the political sectionalism of the time, -Alexander Weimann