Jiří Antonín Benda, also
Georg Anton Benda or
J.A. Benda (30 June 1722 – 6 November 1795) was a Czech
kapellmeisterKapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...
, violinist and
composerA 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 the
classical periodThe dates of the Classical Period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about 1750 and 1830. However, the term classical music is used colloquially to describe a variety of Western musical styles from the ninth century to the present, and especially from the sixteenth or...
.
Biography
Born in
Staré BenátkyBenátky nad Jizerou is a town on the Jizera river in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, between the cities Stará Boleslav and Mladá Boleslav.The city was the site of a castle and observatory built by astronomer Tycho Brahe.-External links:...
(Old Benatek),
BohemiaBohemia 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...
, he studied at the
PiaristThe Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools or, in short, Piarists , is the name of the oldest Catholic educational order also known as the Scolopi, Escolapios or Poor Clerics of the Mother of God...
GymnasiumA gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
(grammar school) in
KosmonosyKosmonosy is a town in the Czech Republic.-External links:*...
and at the
JesuitThe Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
Gymnasium in
JičínJičín is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It lies approximately 85 km northeast of Prague in the scenic region of the Bohemian Paradise under the Prachov Rocks ....
(Gitschin) from 1735 to 1742. Benda was 19 when Frederick the Great bestowed upon him in 1741 the position of second violinist in the chapel of Berlin. The following year Benda was summoned to
PotsdamPotsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
as a composer and
arrangerThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
for his older brother
FranzFranz Benda was a Czech violinist and composer. He was the brother of Jiří Antonín Benda, and he worked for much of his life at the court of Frederick the Great....
, himself an illustrious composer and violinist. Seven years later, in 1749, he entered the service of the
Duke of GothaFrederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg , was a duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.-Biography:He was the eldest son of Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalene Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst....
as
KapellmeisterKapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...
, where he constantly cultivated his talents for
compositionMusical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
, specializing in religious music.
A
stipendA stipend is a form of salary, such as for an internship or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from a wage or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work performed, instead it represents a payment that enables somebody to be exempt partly or wholly from waged or salaried...
from the duke allowed Benda to take a study trip to Italy in 1764. He returned to Gotha in 1766, and devoted himself to composition. In all, he wrote about ten
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s, several
operettaOperetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
s, and the melodramas
Ariadne auf NaxosAriadne auf Naxos is a duodrama in one act by composer Georg Benda with a German libretto by Johann Christian Brandes. The opera's first performance was at the Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha, on 27 January 1775....
,
MedeaMedea is a melodrama in one act with five scenes by composer Georg Benda with a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter. The work was first performed in Leipzig at the Theater am Rannstädtertor on 1 May 1775.-Historical impact and musical analysis:...
and
Almansor und Nadine. In 1778 he resigned his position and visited Hamburg, Vienna, and other cities, and finally settled at the little hamlet of
KöstritzBad Köstritz is a town in the district of Greiz, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Weiße Elster, 7 km northwest of Gera. Bad Köstritz is known for the Köstritzer brewery and its Schwarzbier .-External links:*...
.
Benda had particular success with his melodramas, a form of musical stage entertainment which influenced
MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
. The melodrama
Ariadne auf Naxos is generally considered his best work. At its debut in 1775, the opera received enthusiastic reviews in Germany and afterwards, in the whole of Europe, with music critics calling attention to its originality, sweetness and ingenious execution. Besides that he wrote many instrumental pieces including a few
sonatinaA sonatina is literally a small sonata. As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter, lighter in character, or more elementary technically than a typical sonata...
s.
Benda died in Köstritz,
GothaGotha is a Kreis in the middle of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Unstrut-Hainich, Sömmerda, the district-free city Erfurt, Ilm-Kreis, Schmalkalden-Meiningen and the Wartburgkreis.-History:...
, 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
MecklenburgMecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
, before finally becoming the
concertmasterThe concertmaster/mistress is the spalla or leader, of the first violin section of an orchestra. In the UK, the term commonly used is leader...
in
KönigsbergKönigsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
. He died less than a year after his father.
Operas
- Xindo riconosciuto (libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Giovanni Andrea Galletti, opera seriaOpera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770...
, 1765, GothaGotha is a town in Thuringia, within the central core of Germany. It is the capital of the district of Gotha.- History :The town has existed at least since the 8th century, when it was mentioned in a document signed by Charlemagne as Villa Gotaha . Its importance derives from having been chosen in...
)
- Il buon marito (libretto by Galletti, Intermezzo
In music, an intermezzo , in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work...
, 1766, Gotha)
- Il nuove maestro di capella (Intermezzo, 1766, Gotha)
- Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos is a duodrama in one act by composer Georg Benda with a German libretto by Johann Christian Brandes. The opera's first performance was at the Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha, on 27 January 1775....
(libretto by Johann Christian Brandes, melodramaThe term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, 1775, Gotha)
- Der Jahrmarkt (Der Dorfjahrmarkt/Lukas und Bärbchen) (libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter
Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter was a German poet and dramatist.He was born at Gotha. After the completion of his university course at Göttingen, he was appointed second director of the Gotha Archive. He subsequently went to Wetzlar, the seat of the imperial law courts, as secretary to the...
, SingspielA Singspiel is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera...
, 1775, Gotha)
- Medea
Medea is a melodrama in one act with five scenes by composer Georg Benda with a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter. The work was first performed in Leipzig at the Theater am Rannstädtertor on 1 May 1775.-Historical impact and musical analysis:...
(libretto by Gotter, melodrama, 1775, Leipzig)
- Walder (libretto by Gotter, Singspiel, 1776, Gotha)
- Romeo und Julie
Romeo und Julie is a singspiel in three acts by composer Georg Benda. The opera has a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter that is based upon Christian Felix Weiße's translation of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet....
(libretto by Gotter, Singspiel, 1776, Gotha)
- Der Holzhauer oder Die drey Wünsche (libretto by Gotter, Singspiel, 1778, Gotha)
- Pygmalion
Pygmalion is a monodrama in one act by composer Georg Benda with a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter. The opera's first performance was at the Ekhof Theater, the court theatre in Gotha, on September 20, 1779. Pygmalion was the fourth of the five theatrical collaborations of Benda and...
(libretto by Gotter, melodrama, 1779, Gotha)
- Philon und Theone ,revised as Almansor und Nadine, (unknown librettist, 1779, Gotha)
- Das tartarische Gesetz (libretto by Gotter, Singspiel, 1787, Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
)
External links