Wagenseil, Georg Christoph (EN)

Wagenseil Georg Christoph, *29 January 1715 Vienna, †1 March 1777 Vienna, Austrian composer, organist, harpsichordist and teacher. He was the son of a merchant, Rudolf Matthias Wagenseil (1678–1740) and Anna Maria, née Mans (1685–1746), daughter of a craftsman employed at the Habsburg court in Vienna. He initially studied law for a short time and learned to play keyboard instruments (piano, organ) with J.A. Weger, organist at St. Michael’s Church in Vienna; at the same time, he sang in the boys’ choir of Wilhelmina Amalia, widow of Emperor Joseph I. Between 1735 and 1738, he studied counterpoint and composition under G. Muffat, J.J. Fux and M. Palotta. From 1739 until the end of his life, he was a composer, and from 1749 also a harpsichordist at the imperial court in Vienna. In addition, between 1741 and 1750, he was organist to Elisabeth Christine, widow of Emperor Charles VI, and piano teacher to the imperial family. Widely known and respected as a composer and virtuoso, he rarely left Vienna. In 1745, he travelled to Venice for the premiere of Ariodante, and in 1759–60, on the occasion of the premiere of Demetrio, he went on a longer stay in Milan, where he made contact with J.Ch. Bach. In 1766, due to progressive illness (paralysis), he gave up concert activity and devoted himself to creative and pedagogical work. Referring to the didactic principles of J.J. Fux, he developed his own methods of teaching keyboard instruments; his students included F.X. Dušek, L. Hofmann, J.B. Schenk, J.A. Štěpán and the brothers F. and A. Teyber.

Wagenseil occupies an important place in the history of 18^th-century European musical culture. He is considered one of the most outstanding Viennese composers of the early classical period; his work reflects all the stylistic trends characteristic of the transitional stage between the Baroque and Classical periods. He was also widely regarded as an outstanding harpsichordist and teacher.

In the early period of his compositional career (until around 1745), Wagenseil wrote mainly religious music – a cappella masses (e.g. Missa a 4 voci da capella senz’organo) and concertos, most often (in various combinations) for solo voices, mixed choir, string ensemble and organ, trombone, bassoon and cornet (solo or doubled) and occasionally two or four trumpets and timpani. In this genre, he drew on Palestrina’s polyphony and Fux’s counterpoint style, and in his instrumentation, he also continued older traditions (e.g. he introduced cornetto). More recent features show typical forms of the late Baroque cantata mass (e.g. Missa solenne Immaculatae conceptions), with extensive use of various polyphonic techniques and rich contrapuntal means, including canon, fugato, double, triple and quadruple fugues (Missa “Panem quotidiam” from 1739) and elements of the galant style.

Wagenseil’s opera works also combine traditional formal and stylistic elements with newer ones. His stage works are mostly occasional compositions; they constitute the most important part of Wagenseil’s output from 1745 to 1755. The early ones still show the influence of Neapolitan opera, while in the later ones, recitativo secco is replaced by expressive recitativo accompagnato, and arias da capo by small-scale arias in the galant style, sometimes with a folk flavour; the composer also significantly expanded the ensemble scenes and introduced extensive, elaborately constructed choral passages. The creation of a coherent whole from these elements is considered an outstanding achievement of Wagenseil, and the pasticcio Euridice, staged at the court theatre in 1750 and displaying these stylistic features, is regarded as an important step towards the transformations that led directly to the opera reform of C.W. Gluck.

Wagenseil’s work after 1755 is dominated by orchestral music. His symphonies, which are considered the most important part of his oeuvre, were published in numerous editions and brought him fame throughout Europe. The sound of the symphonies is based, as in an opera orchestra, on a typical string ensemble with transverse flutes, oboe, horns, bassoon, trumpet (often doubled) and timpani, sometimes enriched with other instruments, such as the English horn or hunting horn. Wagenseil liked to introduce doubling of the violin parts by transverse flutes and oboes. The frequent use of a trio instrumentation and the use of concert instruments combined with the harpsichord testify to the influence of the trio sonata, concerto grosso and divertimento. The earliest symphonies were overtures to operas, which eventually became independent; later symphonic works are extensive, 3- or, less frequently, 4-part concert pieces influenced by the late Baroque Italian sinfonia and elements of the Rococo style. Wagenseil made an enormous contribution to the development of the early classical sonata form. He was one of the first to introduce two themes, which were not yet strongly contrasted. The repetition of the same theme immediately after each other in both modes, the use of striking dynamic changes, developed thematic work contributing to the expansion of transformation fragments (e.g. in the Symphony in G minor, Op. 8) and the conclusion in the form of a full reprise are important features of Wagenseil’s style. In the slow movements, the composer departed from the Baroque tradition, giving them a more refined character. The final movements are usually minuets or rondos.

Other of Wagenseil’s instrumental works, mainly for harpsichord, display similar characteristics. The composer emphasised figurative ornamentation and embellishment, especially in the solo parts of his concertos. These elements also appear in the slow movements, alongside extensively developed cantilena passages. The modest accompaniment, often limited under the influence of divertimento to two violins and a bass instrument, became a model for J. Haydn. Numerous embellishments and melodically elaborate cantilenas are also typical of solo parts in chamber music. In addition to works intended for various instrument combinations and based mainly on the models of Viennese suites, serenades and divertimentos, a relatively large number of string trios and other genres with a trio texture play an important role, in which – alongside elements of the Baroque sonata da chiesa – elements of the galant style appear.

Compositions for keyboard instruments (mainly for harpsichord or clavichord, sometimes also organ or interchangeably piano, and even harp) are multi-part suites composed of small pieces, including dance pieces, as well as small sonatas often called divertimentos, with characteristic repetitions of phrases in varying modes, and more extensively developed, two-theme compositions with full reprises, most often in three parts, usually with a minuet as the final part (as in Haydn’s early sonatas) or the middle part. Due to their form and subtle Rococo character, they are considered an important link leading directly to the classical sonata form. W.A. Mozart took up the lightness and serenade-like character of Wagenseil’s piano sonatas. The harmonic simplicity and modest technical means (including improvisational ornamentation and figurations typical of solo instrumental music, resulting from the properties of the instrument) suggest that these works, which are a kind of salon composition (e.g. divertimenti Op. 1–4 from 1753–63, dedicated to Wagenseil’s pupils – Archduchess Maria Anna, Maria Christina, Maria Elisabeth and Maria Amalia) were intended for less skilled musicians. Some of them (including the so-called lesson cycles, preserved in London prints) served as exercises for learning to play a given instrument.

Literature: H. Michelitsch Das Klavierwerk von G. Ch. Wagenseil Thematischer Katalog, Vienna 1966; H. Scholz-Michelitsch Das Orchesterund Kammermusikwerk von G.Ch. Wagenseil Thematischer Katalog, Vienna 1972.

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