Alessandro Poglietti
Encyclopedia
Alessandro Poglietti was a Baroque
organist
and composer
of unknown origin. In the second half of the 17th century Poglietti settled in Vienna, where he attained an extremely high reputation, becoming one of Leopold I
's favorite composers. Poglietti held the post of court organist for 22 years from 1661 until his death during the Turkish siege that led into the Battle of Vienna
.
Poglietti is primarily important for his keyboard
music, particularly Rossignolo (1677), a collection of diverse pieces for harpsichord
that includes a large number of imitations of natural sounds, and a collection of 12 ricercar
es, which was widely copied during his lifetime.
Nothing is known of Poglietti's origins and early life. Tuscany
and Bohemia
have been suggested as his possible birthplace. He may have received musical training in Rome
or Bologna
. Towards the 1660s Poglietti settled in Vienna
: in early 1661 he became organist and Kapellmeister at the Jesuit church Zu den neun Chören der Engel (Nine Choirs of Angels), and on 1 July 1661 he was appointed organist of the court Kapelle under Leopold I
(a post previously held by none other than Johann Jakob Froberger
).
Poglietti held the court position until his death and apparently enjoyed a high reputation. The Emperor (who was a composer himself) was particularly fond of Poglietti, ennobling him and bestowing upon him the title Comes palatinus Caesareus, and the composer was also favored by the Pope, who made him a Knight of the Golden Spur, i.e. a member of the second highest Order of Papal Orders of Chivalry. Poglietti also had friends among Austrian nobility, among them Count Anton Franz von Collalto and Karl II von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn
, Prince-Bishop
of Olomouc
—in 1672 Poglietti inherited estates near their residences. Another important connection of Poglietti's was with the Göttweig Benedictine Abbey
, where he stayed as a guest a number of times, and where his only known opera was performed, in 1677. Composer Johann Kaspar Kerll
was a personal friend of Poglietti's, and he may have known Johann Pachelbel
, who visited Vienna in mid-1670s.
Poglietti died in July 1683, during the Turkish
siege that eventually led into the Battle of Vienna
. His death was lamented by Kerll in Missa in fletu solatium, published in Munich in 1689 as part of a collection of masses, Missae sex. Kerll's work includes continuo parts that specifically order the performer to "avoid consonances".
Poglietti's importance lies primarily in his keyboard music. Together with Johann Kaspar Kerll, he represents the transitional period between the time of Frescobaldi
and the late Baroque period. Particularly important are two large sets of pieces: an unpublished collection of twelve keyboard ricercares and Rossignolo (1677), a collection of harpsichord music. The ricercares belong to the tradition of Frescobaldi's Fiori musicali
and Bach's The Art of Fugue
. Models of the strict contrapuntal style, they were most probably intended for the organ, and were widely copied in the Vienna area. The Rossignolo pieces, on the other hand, are quite different. The collection, which Poglietti presented to Leopold I
and his wife Eleonor Magdalene, comprises the following works:
Many of these pieces employ programmatic devices. For example, Aria bizarra and Imitatione are very demanding, virtuosic pieces based on Poglietti's adaptation of nightingale
calls. Many of the variations of Aria Allemagna imitate music for non-keyboard instruments (Variation 5 Lyra
, Variation 11 Bayrische Schalmay
, etc.) or foreign and/or folk traditions (Variation 15 Französische Baiselements). Poglietti's other pieces include more program music: a canzon and capriccio pair über das Henner und Hannengeschrey, in which the capriccio imitates hens and cocks
, and the suite sopra la ribellione di Ungheria, which commemorates a Hungarian Protestant rebellion of 1671. Poglietti's suite musically illustrates the rebellion itself, the capture of the rebels, their execution, and closes with an imitation of church bells. Poglietti also provided numerous examples of program music (which were incipit
s of possible pieces) in his performance and composition treatise Compendium oder kurtzer Begriff (1676).
Numerous pieces contain highly original treatments of the form: movements of the Binder Gigue from an A minor suite begin with repeated chords and include octave triplets in the left hand; the toccatas as well as any other piece may feature rapid modulations to completely foreign keys, highly contrasting sections and sections built on various kinds of repetition.
Poglietti's other music includes chamber music (mostly suites and sonatas), sacred vocal works (masses
, motet
s, Litaniae Lauretanae for two SATB
choirs) and a single opera (Endimione festeggiante, 1677). Compendium oder kurtzer Begriff und Einfuhrung zur Musica (1676) is a treatise on keyboard composition; a sketchbook survives which also serves as a guidance to keyboard students.
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of unknown origin. In the second half of the 17th century Poglietti settled in Vienna, where he attained an extremely high reputation, becoming one of Leopold I
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
's favorite composers. Poglietti held the post of court organist for 22 years from 1661 until his death during the Turkish siege that led into the Battle of Vienna
Battle of Vienna
The Battle of Vienna took place on 11 and 12 September 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months...
.
Poglietti is primarily important for his keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
music, particularly Rossignolo (1677), a collection of diverse pieces for harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
that includes a large number of imitations of natural sounds, and a collection of 12 ricercar
Ricercar
A ricercar is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term means to search out, and many ricercars serve a preludial function to "search out" the key or mode of a following piece...
es, which was widely copied during his lifetime.
Life
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
and Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
have been suggested as his possible birthplace. He may have received musical training in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
or Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
. Towards the 1660s Poglietti settled in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
: in early 1661 he became organist and Kapellmeister at the Jesuit church Zu den neun Chören der Engel (Nine Choirs of Angels), and on 1 July 1661 he was appointed organist of the court Kapelle under Leopold I
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
(a post previously held by none other than Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. He was among the most famous composers of the era and influenced practically every major composer in Europe by developing the genre of keyboard suite and contributing greatly to the exchange of musical...
).
Poglietti held the court position until his death and apparently enjoyed a high reputation. The Emperor (who was a composer himself) was particularly fond of Poglietti, ennobling him and bestowing upon him the title Comes palatinus Caesareus, and the composer was also favored by the Pope, who made him a Knight of the Golden Spur, i.e. a member of the second highest Order of Papal Orders of Chivalry. Poglietti also had friends among Austrian nobility, among them Count Anton Franz von Collalto and Karl II von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn
Karl II von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn
Karl II von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn was a Catholic priest and prince-bishop. In 1655 he was ordained priest in the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg . Between 1664 to 1695 he served as Prince-Bishop of Olomouc in the Moravia...
, Prince-Bishop
Prince-Bishop
A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...
of Olomouc
Olomouc
Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...
—in 1672 Poglietti inherited estates near their residences. Another important connection of Poglietti's was with the Göttweig Benedictine Abbey
Göttweig Abbey
Göttweig Abbey is a Benedictine monastery near Krems in Lower Austria.-History:Göttweig Abbey was founded as a monastery of canons regular by Blessed Altmann, Bishop of Passau...
, where he stayed as a guest a number of times, and where his only known opera was performed, in 1677. Composer Johann Kaspar Kerll
Johann Kaspar Kerll
Johann Kaspar Kerll was a German baroque composer and organist.Son of an organist, he showed outstanding musical abilities at an early age, and was taught by Giovanni Valentini, court Kapellmeister at Vienna. Kerll became one of the most acclaimed composers of his time, known both as a gifted...
was a personal friend of Poglietti's, and he may have known Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most...
, who visited Vienna in mid-1670s.
Poglietti died in July 1683, during the Turkish
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
siege that eventually led into the Battle of Vienna
Battle of Vienna
The Battle of Vienna took place on 11 and 12 September 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months...
. His death was lamented by Kerll in Missa in fletu solatium, published in Munich in 1689 as part of a collection of masses, Missae sex. Kerll's work includes continuo parts that specifically order the performer to "avoid consonances".
Works
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Girolamo Frescobaldi was a musician from Ferrara, one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by a large number of composers, including Ascanio...
and the late Baroque period. Particularly important are two large sets of pieces: an unpublished collection of twelve keyboard ricercares and Rossignolo (1677), a collection of harpsichord music. The ricercares belong to the tradition of Frescobaldi's Fiori musicali
Fiori musicali
Fiori musicali is a collection of liturgical organ music by Girolamo Frescobaldi, first published in 1635. It contains three organ masses and two secular capriccios. Generally acknowledged as one of Frescobaldi's best works, Fiori musicali influenced composers during at least two centuries...
and Bach's The Art of Fugue
The Art of Fugue
The Art of Fugue , BWV 1080, is an incomplete work by Johann Sebastian Bach . It was most likely started at the beginning of the 1740s, if not earlier. The first known surviving version, which contained 12 fugues and 2 canons, was copied by the composer in 1745...
. Models of the strict contrapuntal style, they were most probably intended for the organ, and were widely copied in the Vienna area. The Rossignolo pieces, on the other hand, are quite different. The collection, which Poglietti presented to Leopold I
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
and his wife Eleonor Magdalene, comprises the following works:
- Toccata and Canzona
- A standard allemande—courante—sarabande—gigue suite in which every movement has a double (the allemande has two)
- An Aria Allemagna with 20 variations
- A set of pieces based on a single theme:
- Ricercar per Il Rossignol
- Sincopatione del Ricercar
- Capriccio per Io Rossignol Sopra'l Ricercar
- Aria bizarra del Rissignolo
- Imitatione del medesimo Uccello
Many of these pieces employ programmatic devices. For example, Aria bizarra and Imitatione are very demanding, virtuosic pieces based on Poglietti's adaptation of nightingale
Nightingale
The Nightingale , also known as Rufous and Common Nightingale, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae...
calls. Many of the variations of Aria Allemagna imitate music for non-keyboard instruments (Variation 5 Lyra
Lyra
Lyra is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Its principal star, Vega — a corner of the Summer Triangle — is one of the brightest...
, Variation 11 Bayrische Schalmay
Shawm
The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the 12th century until the 17th century. It was developed from the oriental zurna and is the predecessor of the modern oboe. The body of the shawm was usually turned from a single piece of wood,...
, etc.) or foreign and/or folk traditions (Variation 15 Französische Baiselements). Poglietti's other pieces include more program music: a canzon and capriccio pair über das Henner und Hannengeschrey, in which the capriccio imitates hens and cocks
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
, and the suite sopra la ribellione di Ungheria, which commemorates a Hungarian Protestant rebellion of 1671. Poglietti's suite musically illustrates the rebellion itself, the capture of the rebels, their execution, and closes with an imitation of church bells. Poglietti also provided numerous examples of program music (which were incipit
Incipit
Incipit is a Latin word meaning "it begins". The incipit of a text, such as a poem, song, or book, is the first few words of its opening line. In music, it can also refer to the opening notes of a composition. Before the development of titles, texts were often referred to by their incipits...
s of possible pieces) in his performance and composition treatise Compendium oder kurtzer Begriff (1676).
Numerous pieces contain highly original treatments of the form: movements of the Binder Gigue from an A minor suite begin with repeated chords and include octave triplets in the left hand; the toccatas as well as any other piece may feature rapid modulations to completely foreign keys, highly contrasting sections and sections built on various kinds of repetition.
Poglietti's other music includes chamber music (mostly suites and sonatas), sacred vocal works (masses
Mass (music)
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
, motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
s, Litaniae Lauretanae for two SATB
SATB
In music, SATB is an initialism for soprano, alto, tenor, bass, defining the voices required by a chorus or choir to perform a particular musical work...
choirs) and a single opera (Endimione festeggiante, 1677). Compendium oder kurtzer Begriff und Einfuhrung zur Musica (1676) is a treatise on keyboard composition; a sketchbook survives which also serves as a guidance to keyboard students.
List of works
Vocal
- Ave regina coelorum à 5
- Endimione festeggiante, opera (1677)
- Litaniae Lauretanae à 8
- Magnificat à 3
- Missa à 3, for 3vv, violin and basso continuo (1680)
- Missa à 4
- Missa à 5
- Requiem aeternam
- 2 motets
Keyboard
- Suite sopra la ribellione di Ungheria, 8 pieces (1671)
- Toccata fatta sopra l'assedio di Filippsburgo (1676; misspelled "Cassedio" in the source)
- Rossignolo, a suite of 17 pieces (1677)
- Canzon and Capriccio über das Henner und Hannengeschrey
- A collection of 12 ricercares
- Toccata del 7. tono
- numerous other pieces: suites, canzonas, capriccios, preludes and fugues, etc.
Writings
- Compendium oder kurtzer Begriff, und Einführung zur Musica (1676; includes a collection of keyboard pieces)
- Regulae compositionis, a sketchbook containing advice on composition