Friedrich Witt

Born: 8 November 1770, Niederstetten (Germany)
Died: 3 January 1836, Würzburg (Germany)

(this composer submitted by Dennis H. Conway <dconwaynetwurx.net>)

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Music

• Symphony # 6 (Sinfonie turque) in A minor
• Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in G major
• Symphony # 9 in D minor

Biography

Friedrich Witt (1770–1836) was born on November 8, 1770 in Niederstetten, Germany near Bad Mergentheim im Hohenlohischen. The sixth of eight children in the family of schoolteacher Johann Kaspar Witt. After his father’s death, his mother remarried and gave birth to four more children. Both his father and stepfather provided Friedrich with his initial musical instruction on a variety of instruments. In October, 1789 he joined the court orchestra of Prince Kraft Ernst zu Oettingen-Wallerstein (1748–1802) as a cellist. In 1793–1794 he joined with clarinetist Joseph Beer (1770–1819) in concert tours to Coburg and Weimar as well as Potsdam and Ludwigslust, Germany. During the summer of 1796 the duo traveled to Vienna where they presented a concert in the Augarten where Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) and other leading composers of the imperial capital’s music world performed. Joseph Beer performed a solo concerto written by Witt, and Witt conducted one of his own symphonies in Vienna. Witt continued to travel until the spring of 1802. After the premiere of his oratorio Der leidende Heiland, he was appointed music director of the Wurzburg Prince Bishop Georg Karl von Fechenbach (1749–1808). In 1803 Witt married and settled in Würzburg where he established a permanent home. In 1807 he served as music director for the court theater of the archduke Ferdinand of Tuscany. In 1824 Friedrich Witt was dismissed for unspecified irregularities at the court theater, and he died of pulmonary paralysis at the age of sixty-five on January 3, 1836.

Witt was a conservative musician who obligated himself to write in the classical format. Joseph Haydn and Antonio Rosetti (1750–1790) served as standards for his composition style especially in the use of wind instruments. Witt was a master in the use of elegant melody and had a gift for the appropriate use of instruments. In many ways Witt was a transitional composer between the employment of the classical style and romantic technique which became the standard replacing the classical.

During his lifetime Witt wrote twenty three symphonies among chamber works and sacred music as well as compositions for the stage. More than half of Witt’s symphonies were composed during the 1790’s. Johann Anton Andre (1775–1842) published the Symphonies numbered 1 through 9 between 1803 and 1818. The Sinfonie turque in A minor # 6 was published in 1808 and the Grande sinfonie in D minor #9 was published in 1818. Both exhibit a number of similarities in formal composition. Both begin with a slow introduction followed by an extended first movment in sonata form with a songlike slow movement and a minuet. The finales are both written in sonata format. Both written in minor key end with an optimisic flourish. The Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in G major presents a richly instrumented masterpiece. An energy charged first movment Allegro is followed by a romantic Andante cantabile and concludes with an elegantly fashionable polonaise.

Friedrich Witt’s music is suited for those who appreciate the 18th Century Classical format and prefer the music of Mozart, Haydn and early Beethoven.

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