Karl Ditters Von Dittersdorf

Background

Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf was born on November 2, 1739, in Vienna, Austria. His father was an embroidery worker, so his family was relatively well off. At home, he learned how to play music from his father, who was an amateur musician.

Education

Ditters received a good education, both at home and at a Jesuit school.

At school, he studied French, religion, and music.

Career

At one point in his career, his popularity was so great that people ranked him in the same class as Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Here, besides playing in the orchestra, he received instruction in Latin, French, Italian, dancing, and riding.

After an unsettling period--the Seven Years' War broke out in 1756--Dittersdorf traveled widely in northern Italy and southern Germany as a violinist (partly in company with Christoph Willibald Gluck).

From 1765 until about 1794 he served as choirmaster in the musical establishment of the bishop of Grosswardein and then, at the castle of the prince-biship of Breslau, engaged an orchestra and singers, beside composing much for each of their theaters.

Ditters stayed with the Prince's orchestra until 1761, when the Prince left Vienna to assume the regency in Hildburghausen and was forced to dissolve the musical unit.

However, certain circumstances would turn out to have a positive impact on his later success.

In addition, he became friends with musician and composer Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787), the German composer who would gain great fame for his operas.

Gluck helped free Ditters from some of his more tedious duties, and he helped Ditters find some music students to teach.

The friendship became even more fruitful when, in 1763, Gluck asked Ditters to travel with him to Bologna, Italy.

During the trip, which was financed by Count Durazzo, Ditters had the opportunity to perform several violin concerts. In 1764, Ditters' contract with the theater orchestra ended.

Around the same time, Count Durazzo was replaced by Count Wenzel Spork.

When Ditters' contract expired, he could have stayed on, but he did not want to work with Spork, due to personal differences.

Instead, Ditters accepted a position as Kapellmeister (chapel master) to the court of Adam Patachich, a Hungarian nobleman and the Bishop of Grosswardein in Hungary.

In accepting the position, Ditters assumed a post that was recently vacated by Hadyn.

It proved to be a good career move.

At the Bishop's chapel, Ditters assembled his own orchestra and singers.

With his newfound freedom, he composed his earliest vocal works, including operas and the oratorio Isacco, figura del redentore.

As a result, the bishop dismissed his entire chapel, including the orchestra, and Ditters was without a job. Ditters then traveled through Europe for about a year, and in the course of his journeys, he met Count Schaffgotsch, Prince–Bishop of Breslau, who would become his next patron.

The count invited Ditters to stay at his castle at Johannisberg.

In 1789 he traveled to Berlin, Germany, on a special invitation from Friedrich Wilhelm II, who had him stage a spectacular performance of Hioband Apotheker.

In 1794 Ditters began composing comic operas for a small Silesian court theater at Oels in Poland.

Ditters' fortunes took a bad turn in 1795, however.

Count Schaffgotsch, the Prince–Bishop of Breslau, who housed Ditters at Johannisberg for nearly 20 years, passed away.

Ditters was forced to leave the castle.

Compounding his woes, Ditters suffered arthritis. Fortunately, he was spared from these dire circumstances by an invitation from Baron Ignaz von Stillfried, who offered to put Ditters and his family up in his castle, Rothlhotta, in southern Bohemia.

Ditters accommodations were rather spartan, but Rothlhotta provided him a home until his death. Ditters spent his last years supervising operatic productions and preparing his own compositions for publication.

However, he found that his reputation as a leading light in the music world had greatly declined.

Finally, his music was not performed anywhere.

He was 60 years old.

Almost as if anticipating his death, Ditters managed to complete his autobiography, Lebenbeschreibung, three days before he passed away.

The work was eventually published in Leipzig in 1801.

Achievements

• Right from the start of his 40–year career, Ditters displayed a prolificacy, versatility, and creativity that was remarkable.
  
  He tried his hand at all musical genres, and he proved he could produce successful compositions in each.
  
  The Classical style, which was also reflected in the era's literature and architecture, was more formal, more clearly articulated, simple, and more natural than works from the preceding Baroque era.
  
  At one point in his career, Ditters' name ranked among the best composers of the Classical era, and his popularity was greater than Haydn's or Mozart's.
  
  However, today Ditters' ranking has considerably lessened and his works are rarely performed. Even so, his output was enormous.
  
  He composed operas, sacred vocal music, symphonies, chamber music, and keyboard music.
  
  Today, his best known works are his symphonies.
  
  He composed 120 of these works over the span of several decades, and they provide insight into his development as a composer.
  
  Ditters' symphonies display considerable wit, unexpected touches, and unique approaches that often set him apart from his contemporaries and no doubt contributed to the great popularity he enjoyed. His programmatic symphonies are considered his best, and the 12 that were based on Ovid's Metamorphoses are his best known.
  
  Six of the twelve have survived, as have many of his symphonic compositions.
  
  Today his symphonies are noted for their folk–like melodies that were culled from the period.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Dittersdorf

    ( This musically-charming work, full of technical tricker...)

  • The Autobiography of Karl von Dittersdorf. Dictated to His Son

    (Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

  • Lebensbeschreibung

    ( Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf: Lebensbeschreibung Editi...)

  • Dittersdorf

    ( A reliable edition of two standard classics with origin...)

  • Karl von Dittersdorfs lebensbeschreibung

    ( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)

  • CONCERTO IN E MAJOR DOUBLE
  • The Autobiography of Karl von Dittersdorf 2012

Connections

Friend:

Ditters

References

• Air