Therese Jansen Bartolozzi

Therese Jansen Bartolozzi (ca. 1770 – 1843) was an eminent pianist whose career flourished in London around the end of the 18th century. She was the dedicatee of piano works by a number of famous composers.

Life

Therese Jansen is believed to have been born in Aachen in Germany some time around 1770.[1] Her father was a successful dancing master, who moved to London with his family.[2] The family business of teaching dance to well-off customers was quite successful and was continued for some time by Therese and her younger brother Louis Jansen (1774–1840).[3] According to an anonymous biography of Jansen's daughter (see below), the business made over 2000 pounds per year.[4]

Both Therese and Louis studied with the famous pianist Muzio Clementi.[5] Therese particularly excelled, and by her young adulthood, she had become an outstanding performer. By 1791 she probably had a strong reputation, as Johann Peter Salomon gave her and her family free tickets to the first series of the famous concerts which Joseph Haydn gave in London under his auspices.[6]

Not long after, works were being dedicated to her by composers: Clementi, Haydn, and J. L. Dussek (see below).[7] She was listed by a contemporary encyclopedist as one of Clementi's three most distinguished pupils, along with John Field and Johann Baptist Cramer.[8]

Little evidence survives to document her career as a performer. Salwey mentions a performance of a Haydn sonata before the Anacreontic Society prior to 1791 and two other performances in 1806.[9] It is possible that Jansen's fame developed primarily from performances in private homes.[10]

Therese Jansen was married on 16 May 1795 to Gaetano Bartolozzi (1757–1821), a son of the noted artist and engraver Francesco Bartolozzi.[11] One of the witnesses at the ceremony was their friend Haydn.[12] Gaetano Bartolozzi was primarily an art dealer who also branched out into the sale of other goods as well; his work often took him to Venice.[13] Bartolozzi was successful in his business and had purchased an estate about fifty miles from Venice.[14] Like Therese, he was musical and was a fine violinist and violist.[15]

Following two miscarriages,[16] Therese gave birth to a daughter Elizabetta Lucia, who grew up to be a famous actress and theatre manager, performing under her married name of Lucia Elizabeth Vestris, or Madame Vestris. Therese and Gaetano also had a second daughter Josephine.[17]

In 1798, Bartolozzi closed up his art business, auctioning off his stock at Christie's, and the family left for Europe: first Paris, then Vienna, and finally Venice. While in Vienna, they probably renewed their acquaintance with Haydn;[18] they were among the subscribers to the first edition of The Creation, which Haydn published himself in 1800.[19] Arriving in Venice, the Bartolozzis found that their property had been looted by French forces during the recent invasion of the area.[20]

Needing to start over financially, they returned to London, where Bartolozzi began giving lessons in drawing.[21] He died in 1821.[22] Therese Bartolozzi separated from her husband there. She supported herself and her two daughters by teaching piano.[23]

Therese Jansen Bartolozzi died in London in 1843.[24]

Works dedicated to Therese Jansen

Notes

  1. ↑ New Grove, cited below
  2. ↑ New Grove
  3. ↑ Strunk (1934, 194)
  4. ↑ Strunk (1934, 194)
  5. ↑ New Grove
  6. ↑ This is known from the diary of Charlotte Papendieck; see Robbins Landon (1976, 52)
  7. ↑ New Grove
  8. ↑ Strunk (1934, 194)
  9. ↑ Salwey (2004, 280)
  10. ↑ The New Grove, contradicting Salwey, states that "Therese is not known to have played in public."
  11. ↑ New Grove
  12. ↑ New Grove
  13. ↑ Strunk (1934)
  14. ↑ Strunk (1934, 196)
  15. ↑ Robbins Landon (1976, 441)
  16. ↑ Strunk (1934)
  17. ↑ New Grove
  18. ↑ New Grove
  19. ↑ New Grove
  20. ↑ New Grove
  21. ↑ Strunk (1934, 197)
  22. ↑ Bryan, Michael (1886). Robert Edmund Graves, ed. Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical (Volume I: A-K). York St. #4, Covent Garden, London; Original from Fogg Library, Digitized May 18, 2007: George Bell and Sons. p. 90.
  23. ↑ de Val (2009)
  24. ↑ New Grove. A death notice in the Gentleman's Magazine (1843, 175: 216) gives the location of her death as Pimlico (a district of London) and the date as 29 June.
  25. ↑ Robbins Landon (1976, 417)

References

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