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Johann Heinrich von Schmelzer (1623 – March 20, 1680) was an Austrian composer and violinist of the baroque era. He worked in Vienna and died in Prague. Schmelzer attained a high reputation in a field (violin playing and violin composition) which at the time was dominated by Italians; indeed, one traveler referred to him in 1660 as "nearly the most eminent violinist in all of Europe". Schmelzer's Sonatae unarum fidium of 1664 was the first collection of sonatas for violin and basso continuo to be published by a German-speaking composer. It contains the brilliant virtuosity, sectional structure, and lengthy ground-bass variations typical of the mid-baroque violin sonata.
Schmelzer was the foremost Austrian composer of instrumental music of his day, and had an important influence on the Austrian violinist and composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704), who is believed to have been one of Schmelzer's students.
[edit] Some works
- Lamento sopra la morte di Ferdinando III, 1657
- Duodena selactarum sonatarum, 1659
- Sacroprofanus Concentus, 1662
- Sonatae unarum fidium seu a violino solo, 1664
- Die musikalische Fechtschul, 1668
- 150 Suites, vocal works, and Christian music
[edit] References
[edit] External links
