Ignaz Fränzl
Encyclopedia
Ignaz Fränzl, was a German violin
ist, composer
and representative of the second generation of the so-called Mannheim School
. Mozart
who heard him at a concert in November 1777 wrote of him in a letter to his father: He may not be a sorcerer, but he is a very solid violinist indeed.
Fränzl carried the Mannheim violin technique, established by Johann Stamitz
, one step further to real virtuosity. Mozart, quite a good violinist himself and thoroughly acquainted with the instrument, praised Fränzl’s double trill and said he had never heard a better one.
, another composer-violinist of the Mannheim school.
In the personnel list of 1756 he is documented as a first violinist together with Cannabich and C. G. Toeschi. As was the case with many of his colleagues of the Mannheim court orchestra, Fränzl also travelled to Paris on a few occasions where he performed at the Concert Spirituel. In 1774 he was promoted to concertmaster, a position which he kept until most of the court orchestra was transferred to Munich in 1778.
He was also active as a violin teacher. His most notable pupils were his own son, Ferdinand Fränzl
, Pierre Noël Gervais, Paul Anton Winnberger, and Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis (II), brother of the more famous piano virtuoso Johann Peter Pixis
.
Contrary to the majority of the other members of the court orchestra Fränzl did not relocate to Munich but chose to stay in Mannheim where he became music director of the court theatre, a position which he kept until 1804.
. Mozart wrote home to his father
on the same evening:
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist, 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...
and representative of the second generation of the so-called Mannheim School
Mannheim school
Mannheim school refers to both the orchestral techniques pioneered by the court orchestra of Mannheim in the latter half of the 18th century as well as the group of composers who wrote such music for the orchestra of Mannheim and others.-History:...
. Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang 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...
who heard him at a concert in November 1777 wrote of him in a letter to his father: He may not be a sorcerer, but he is a very solid violinist indeed.
Fränzl carried the Mannheim violin technique, established by Johann Stamitz
Johann Stamitz
Jan Václav Antonín Stamic was a Czech composer and violinist. Johann was the father of Carl Stamitz and Anton Stamitz, also composers...
, one step further to real virtuosity. Mozart, quite a good violinist himself and thoroughly acquainted with the instrument, praised Fränzl’s double trill and said he had never heard a better one.
Biography
Ignaz Fränzl entered the Mannheim court orchestra in 1747 as a violinist, probably as a scholar (i.e. apprentice) similar to Christian CannabichChristian Cannabich
Johann Christian Innocenz Bonaventura Cannabich , was a German violinist, composer, and Kapellmeister of the Classical era...
, another composer-violinist of the Mannheim school.
In the personnel list of 1756 he is documented as a first violinist together with Cannabich and C. G. Toeschi. As was the case with many of his colleagues of the Mannheim court orchestra, Fränzl also travelled to Paris on a few occasions where he performed at the Concert Spirituel. In 1774 he was promoted to concertmaster, a position which he kept until most of the court orchestra was transferred to Munich in 1778.
He was also active as a violin teacher. His most notable pupils were his own son, Ferdinand Fränzl
Ferdinand Fränzl
Ferdinand Fränzl, , was a German violinist, composer, conductor, opera director, and a representative of the third generation of the so-called Mannheim school....
, Pierre Noël Gervais, Paul Anton Winnberger, and Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis (II), brother of the more famous piano virtuoso Johann Peter Pixis
Johann Peter Pixis
Johann Peter Pixis was a German pianist and composer born in Mannheim, Germany.He lived in Paris between 1825 and 1845, where he worked as a concert pianist...
.
Contrary to the majority of the other members of the court orchestra Fränzl did not relocate to Munich but chose to stay in Mannheim where he became music director of the court theatre, a position which he kept until 1804.
Fränzl as seen by Mozart and Dittersdorf
Fränzl and Mozart
Mozart heard Fränzl play a violin concerto on November 22, 1777. The concerto took probably place in the Rittersaal (Knight’s hall) of the Mannheim PalaceMannheim Palace
Mannheim Palace is a large Baroque palace in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was originally the main residence of the Prince-electors of the Electoral Palatinate...
. Mozart wrote home to his father
Leopold Mozart
Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was a German composer, conductor, teacher, and violinist. Mozart is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule.-Childhood and student years:He was born in Augsburg, son of...
on the same evening:
- ”To-day at six o'clock the gala concert took place. I had the pleasure of hearing Herr Fränzl (who married a sister of Madame CannabichChristian CannabichJohann Christian Innocenz Bonaventura Cannabich , was a German violinist, composer, and Kapellmeister of the Classical era...
's) play a concerto on the violin; he pleased me very much. You know that I am no lover of mere difficulties. He plays difficult music, but it does not appear to be so; indeed, it seems as if one could easily do the same, and this is the real thing. He has a very fine round tone, not a note is missing, and everything is distinct and well accentuated. He has also a beautiful staccatoStaccatoStaccato is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation it signifies a note of shortened duration and separated from the note that may follow by silence...
in bowing, both up and down, and I never heard such a double trillTrill (music)The trill is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill....
as his. In short, though in my opinion no sorcerer, he is a very solid violin player indeed.”
Fränzl and Dittersdorf
Fellow violinist and composer Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, an almost exact contemporary of Fränzl, heard him play in Vienna 1787 and judged him to be one of the best violinists of his generation:- "On this occasion I came across seven foreign violinists, who were all there on speculation, and came together quite unexpectedly. Foremost among them were Jarnowich, Frenzel père (sic), and a certain S., who belonged to the German Empire. The superiority of S. consisted in double-stopping and arpeggios, which he paraded ad nauseam. Every moment he was making some clumsy transition, or running counter to the rules of true composition, so that every real connoisseur had his teeth set on edge."
Works (Selection)
Most of Fränzl’s works were first published in Paris. The whole body of his work is rather small. It comprises about two dozen works, all of them instrumental.Chamber music
- 6 Sonatas for two violins and violoncello
- 6 String quartets
- 3 Quartets for flute and string trio (violin, viola, violoncello) which could also be played as string quartets.
Sources
- Blume, FriedrichFriedrich BlumeFriedrich Blume was professor of Musicology in Kiel University from 1938-1958. He was a student in Munich, Berlin and Leipzig, and taught in the last two of these for some years before being called to the chair in Kiel. His early studies were on Lutheran church music, including several books on...
, Hrsg. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik. Ungekürzte elektronische Ausgabe der ersten Auflage. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1949-1987. - Dittersdorf, Karl Ditters von. Autobiography - Dictated to his Son. London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1896 (First German edition 1801).
- Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Edited by Ludwig Nohl. Translated by Lady Wallace (i.e. Grace Jane WallaceGrace Jane Wallace-Life:She was the eldest daughter of John Stein of Edinburgh. She became, on 19 August 1824, the second wife of Sir Alexander Don, sixth baronet of Newton Don, and the intimate friend of Sir Walter Scott...
). Vol. 1. 2 vols. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1866. - Riemann, Hugo. Handbuch der Musikgeschichte. Die Musik des 18. und 19. Jahrhhunderts. Zweite, von Alfred Einstein durchgesehene Auflage. Bd. II. V Bde. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1922.
- Slonimsky, Nicolas, ed. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. 5th Completely Revised Edition. New York, 1958.
- Alfried Wieczorek, Hansjörg Probst, Wieland Koenig, Hrsg. Lebenslust und Frömmigkeit - Kurfürst Carl Theodor (1724–1799) zwischen Barock und Aufklärung. Bd. 2. 2 Bde. Regensburg, 1999. ISBN 3791716786