Koželuh, Jan Antonín
Koželuh, Koželuch, Kotzeluch, Koscheluch, Goscheloch, Leopold, actually Jan Antonín, *26 June 1747 Velvary, †7 May 1818 Vienna, Czech composer, cousin of Jan Antonín. He started learning under A. Kubik in Velvary, later stayed in Prague, where he studied at the university (philosophy, mathematics, law); he gave it up for further musical education under J.A. Koželuh (theory, counterpoint, vocal composition) and F.X. Dušek (piano, composition). In 1771– 78, he wrote ballets (lost) for Prague theatres; probably then, he adopted the name Leopold to avoid confusion with his cousin. In 1778, he went to Vienna, where he probably took a few lessons from J.G. Albrechtsberger; soon, he established himself as a pianist, piano teacher and composer. Since the beginning of his career, he was praised by contemporary critics as one of the best composers of his generation in Europe, and his high position in the community is evidenced by his unusually high earnings. In 1784, he started to publish his work in Vienna systematically (mainly Artaria), then also in Germany (André, Gotz), Paris (Naderman, Sieber) and in London (Bland, Birchall and others). In 1785, he founded a publishing house Musikalisches Magazin, which he ran until 1802 with his brother Antonín Tomáš (1752–1805), and published works mainly by L. Koželuh or by W.A. Mozart. The position of L. Koželuh was strengthened in 1791 by the success of a cantata included in the programme for the coronation of Emperor Leopold II the King of Bohemia in Prague. According to some sources, Leopold Koželuh competed with Mozart there; after Mozart’s death – although not directly, as sometimes suggested, but only on 12 June 1792 – Koželuh was nominated by Emperor Franz II as KammerKapellmeister and Hofmusik-Compositor at the court in Vienna; he held both positions until the end of his life. In 1797–1809, on the initiative of the Scottish amateur and music collector G. Thomson, he participated (alongside Haydn and Beethoven) in the work of arranging Scottish and Welsh folk songs; during this time, he also taught (together with J.B. Vaňhal and K. Dittersdorf, among others) at his private music academy in Prague. L. Koželuh’s students included M.Th. Paradis, I. von Seyfried and S. Sechter. L. Koželuh’s daughter, Catharina Cibbini (1785–1858), was active in Vienna as a pianist and composer of fashionable piano pieces.
L. Koželuh was a composer who developed and perfected his craft over the years, and his work belongs to three different styles. Orchestral works created before 1790 (including all symphonies) are in the common formulas of the Viennese classical style, while the vocal works written at the same time, including cantatas and songs, bear the features of the galant music. Starting from ca. 1785, initially in chamber works (mainly piano trios, by L. Koželuh called sonatas), later also in solo and concert piano music and in songs, there is a new type of expression visible, with pathetic and tragic features which, in some examples (Trois caprices, Sei notturni) can be defined as early-Romantic. The aforementioned tendencies are also manifested in L. Koželuh’s arrangements of Scottish and Welsh folk songs, the elements of which he used, among others, in later trios (sonatas) with the participation of the piano. L. Koželuh was one of the most important Czech composers of the 18th century, which is evidenced not only by successes of his individual work (e.g. music for the ballet La ritrovata…), but above all by the influence his piano works had on early-Romantic composers, especially Schubert and Weber. L. Koželuh is also widely credited with a significant contribution to the creation of a new, already Romantic idiom of piano music, indicating the path he travelled from his first sonatas, trios and concertos for piano or harpsichord to his later works based on deliberately created, piano textural and sound techniques.
Literature: O.E. Deutsch Koželuh ritrovato, “Music and Letters” XXVI, 1945; A. Weinmann Verzeichnis der Verlagswerke des Musikalischen Magazins, Vienna 1950; M. Poštolka L. Koželuh. Život a dílo, Prague 1964 (contains a thematic catalogue of works and bibliography); C. Flamm L. Koželuh. Biographie und stilkritische Untersuchung der Sonaten für Klavier, Violine und Violoncello, dissertation, Vienna 1968; R. Hickman Leopold Kozeluch and the Viennese quatuor concertant, “College Music Symposium” XXVI, 1986; J.A. Rice Muzzarelli, Koželuh e La ritornata figlia di Ottone II (1794): il baletto viennese ordinato nello spirito di Noverre, “Nuova rivista musicale italiana” XXIV, 1990; R. Pečman Ein heroisches Ballett von Leopold Koželuh, “Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty brněnské univerzity. H: Řada hudebněvědná” 29:H15, 1980; H. Hogwood The keyboard sonatas of Leopold Koželuch, “Early music” 40/4, 2012; A. Beer Leopold Koželuch und die Selbstkritik beim Komponieren: Ein Blick in die rezeptionsgeschichtliche Gerüchteküche, in: Neuerscheinung: musica floreat! – Jürgen Blume zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. J. Blume, I. Ott, B. Petersen-Mikkelsen, Mainz 2016; J. Vojtěšková Letters from the Morawetz Collection (Musicians of Czech Origin in European Centres at the Turn of the 18th and 19th Centuries), “Musicalia” 2021, 1–2.
Compositions:
Instrumental:
orchestra:
11 symphonies:
in A major “A la française,” published in Vienna ca. 1784
in D major, in C major published in Paris ca. 1786
in D major (questionable attribution), in F major, in G minor published in Paris 1787
in C major, in A major, in G major published in Vienna 1787
in C major, in B-flat major “l’irrésolu,” not published
2 Concert Symphonies:
in E-flat major, published in Vienna 1798
in C major
overtures
cycles of dances
marches
19 concerts for piano (or for piano or harpsichord):
in F major, in B-flat major, published in Vienna 1784
in A major, in E-flat major, published in Vienna 1785
in G major, published in Vienna ca. 1785
in F major, published in Mainz ca. 1785
in C major, published in Paris 1786
in D major, published in Vienna 1787
Concerto en rondo in C major, published in Offenbach 1793
Concert favori in E-flat major, published in London 1800
2 in D major,
2 in C major
2 in E major
2 in F major
in B-flat major, not published
***
Rondo concertante in E-flat major
Fantasia concertante in D minor, not published
Concert in B-flat major for piano for 4 hands and orchestra, published in Vienna ca. 1785
2 concerts in E-flat major for clarinet and orchestra, not published
chamber:
5 divertiment
2 serenades
2 partitas
6 string quartets:
in B-flat major, in G major, in E-flat major, published in Vienna 1790
in C major, in A major, in F major, published in Vienna 1791
63 sonatas (trios) for piano or harpsichord, violin or flute or cello
24 duos for piano and violin (mostly arranged of piano sonatas)
3 duos for flute and cello
3 duos for 2 violins
3 duos for violin and viola
solo:
49 sonatas for piano
6 écossaises for piano, published in Vienna ca. 1793,
Trois caprices for piano, published in Vienna ca. 1798,
numerous minuets, contra dances and other dances, marches for piano
7 sonatas for piano for 4 hands
Vocal and vocal-instrumental, including:
60 solo songs,
Sei notturni for 4 solo voices, piano and cello, published in Vienna 1796
9 cantatas, including:
Cantate Seiner P.T. Majestät Leopold II. gewidmet…, lyrics A.G. Meissner, performed in Prague 1791
La Galatea, 1802
2 oratories:
Moisè in Egitto, staged in Vienna 1787
La Giuditta, ca. 1792
religious works
***
arrangements of folk songs for voice solo, piano, violin and cello:
A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs, published in London 1798 (includes 110 songs)
A Select Collection of Original Welsh Airs, published in London 1809 (with J. Haydn, includes 59 songs)
Scenic:
6 operas:
Gustav Wasa, after 1792, not staged
other lost, including:
Didone abbandonata, libretto P. Metastasio, staged in Vienna before 1790
ballets, including:
La ritrovata figlia di Ottone II…, libretto A. Muzzarelli, staged in Vienna 1794
pantomimes
Editions:
Piano Concert in D major, ed. R. Meylan, Wiesbaden 1934
String Quartet in B-flat major, ed. J. Micka, J. Racek and A. Němec, «Musica Antiqua Bohemica» XV, 1954
3 symphonies ed. J. Racek, M. Poštolka, «Musica Antiqua Bohemica» LXXII, 1969
Symphonies and overtures (c. 1750s–1780s) classical symphonies: works by Johann Gottlieb Graun, Niccolò Jommelli, Anton Filtz, François Joseph Gossec, Johann Baptist, «Three centuries of music in score». ed. K. Cooper, New York 1990
6 string quartets, op. 32 and 33, ed. R. Hikman, «Classical scores library», 1994
Sonatas 1–12, 13–24, 25–37, 38–50, urtext edition, ed. Ch. Hogwood, «Souborné vydání sonát pro klavír», Kassel ca. 2010–2015
Sonatina for 4 hands in C major, ed. Ch. Dohr, Cologne 2010
Sonatas op. 51, ed. H. Albrecht, Cologne 2011
Duets for violin and horn, ed. R. Ostermeyer, Wernigerode 2013
Concert for clarinet and orchestra in E-flat major, ed. G Balassa, V. Lampert, Adliswil 2014
Parthia in F for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, 2 bassoons and contrabassoon, ed. R. Ostermeyer, Wernigerode 2016
Sonata for piano, violin and cello, ed. H. Albrecht, Brühl 2016
Symphony in G minor, ed. E. Tornová, Prague 2017
Concerto P. II:1: Sinfonia concertante in E♭, ed. J. Bland, Frome 2018
Sinfonia in G minor, PosK I:5 II, ed. W. Jacob, Burgthann 2019
6 easy sonatas for piano, ed. Ch. Hogwood, Kassel 2020
Rondo concerto in E-flat major, ed. J. Owczarek-Ciszewska, Cologne 2022