Georg Matthias Monn

The composer who introduced the Mannheim galant style to Vienna, Georg Matthias Monn enjoyed a higher reputation in Austria during his life time, although his music had not been widely circulated beyond German-speaking territories and was generally ignored through the first 250 years following his death. His baptismal name was in fact Johann Georg Mann; he appears to have known as himself Georg Matthias in order to avoid misunderstandings with his more youthful sibling, Johann Christoph, also a composer. “Monn” conforms to the low Austrian pronunciation from the family members name. J.G. Monn was a kid chorister, and in his early twenties he required employment as organist at the brand new Karlskirche in Vienna. He might also have performed the body organ at Melk Abbey, although it has been disputed, and it’s really possible, though not really particular, that he was an early on instructor of Albrechtsberger. He do, with Wagenseil, rise to be among the leading Viennese composers from the middle eighteenth hundred years. His music was performed in the courtroom of Emperor Joseph II, but non-e from it — and there appears to be a substantial amount of it — was released during his life time. He is mentioned in the music background books as the first ever to compose a four-movement symphony having a third-movement minuet, which would end up being the regular design in the functions of Haydn and Mozart. He do this precisely once, though, and normally held to the original three-movement design. The Monn music that’s becoming revived today will involve the orchestra; the sinfonia as well as the concerto symbolize him in the catalogs. At exactly the same time, this music’s textures have a tendency to end up being thin, more comparable to chamber music than orchestral ratings. These works, specifically the key pad concertos, are cheerful and extremely engaging, using a dazzling harmonic restlessness that appears ahead towards the design of C.P.E. Bach. What limitations its recognition, though, is usually its very traditional structural character; the concertos favour the aged Baroque ritornello format, the chamber music and single key pad functions are multi-movement partitas, and he was usually keen on canonic textures, specifically in minor-mode motions. Another limitation is usually its formulaic thematic cells. Monn tended to create little motifs instead of full-fledged melodies; this facilitated the music’s advancement, but limited its memorability. A few of Monn’s ratings attracted the interest of an improbable later on composer: Arnold Schoenberg. The daddy of dodecaphony extended the continuo component of 1 of Monn’s cello concertos, and later on transformed among the key pad concertos right into a cello concerto for Pablo Casals.