STAMITZ, Johann

19th June 1717 – 27th March 1757

Stamitz was a Czech composer and violinist. He was born to a musical family and received his first musical instruction from his father, who was an organist and a choirmaster. He was educated at a grammar school, before receiving one year of education at university in Prague.

He settled at the court of the Elector Palatine at Mannheim in either 1741 or 1742. He became Konzertmeister of the orchestra in 1745, and was made director of instrumental music in 1750. From 1754-55 Stamitz spent a year in Paris, performing his compositions. He also taught pupils on his return to Mannheim. His influence on his pupils led to the creation of an orchestra with techniques that made it the envy of Europe. 

Stamitz composed orchestral, chamber and a small amount of church music. He also wrote several violin concertos and a few for woodwind, including possibly the first solo clarinet concerto. He also broke away from the Italian three-movement sinfonia to compose standard four-movement types. All his compositions reveal reminisces of his Czech origins with strong personality. He used bold dynamics and light grace notes and also extended phrase lengths.

& back to composers

& back to main