Georg Benda

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Georg Anton [Jiří Antonin] Benda (June 30, 1722–November 6, 1795) was a Bohemian-German kapellmeister and composer.

Born in Staré Benátky, Bohemia, Czech Republic, Benda was 19 when Frederick II of Prussia bestowed upon him in 1741 the position of second violinist in the chapel of Berlin. The following year Benda was summoned to Potsdam as a composer and arranger for his older brother Franz, himself an illustrious composer and violinist. Seven years later, in 1749 he entered the service of the Duke of Gotha as chapel master, where he constantly cultivated his talents for composition, specializing in religious music.

A stipend from the Duke allowed him to take a study trip to Italy.

Benda had particular success with a form of musical stage entertainment, the melodrama, which influenced Mozart. Besides that he wrote many instrumental pieces.

His main theatrical works include:

Xindo riconnosciuto, opera (1765)

Ariadne auf Naxos, duodrama (1775)

Medea, duodrama (1775)

Der Dorfjahrmarkt, Singspiel (1775)

Romeo und Julie, Singspiel (1776)

Walder, Singspiel (1776)

Pygmalion, duodrama (1779)

The duodrama Ariadne, generally considered his best work, was received with enthusiastic applause in Germany and afterwards, in the whole of Europe, with music critics calling attention to its originality, sweetness and ingenious execution.

Georg Benda died in Köstritz, Gotha at the age of 73, leaving his son, Friedrich Ludwig Benda (1752–1796), who briefly carried on the family musical tradition, serving as a music director in Hamburg and later in Mecklenburg, before finally becoming the Concertmaster in Königsberg. He died less than a year after his father.