He was born in Vienna as Carl Ditters. He had violin lessons from Giuseppe Trani and compositions lessons from Giuseppe Bonno. He served in a number of courts, including as Kapellmeister to the Prince-Bishop of Breslau from 1770 to 1795. He died in de:Neuhof, Bohemia.
His works are little performed today, but he was well known in his day, and is considered an important composer of the Classical era. After some early Italian opera buffa, he composed a number of German Singspiele, with Der Apotheker und der Doktor (1786, generally known today as Doktor und Apotheker) in particular being a tremendous success in his lifetime, playing in houses all over Europe. His symphonies (over a hundred in number) are also considered fine pieces with their folk-like melodies and witty passages; they include twelve based on Ovid's Metamorphoses (six of which have survived to the present day). He also wrote oratorios, cantatas, concertos (including one for the double bass), chamber music, piano pieces and other works. His memoirs, Lebenbeschreibung, were published in Leipzig in 1801.
KARLDITTERSVONDITTERSDORF (1739-1799), Austrian composer and violinist, was born in Vienna on the 2nd of November 1739, his father's name being Ditters.
Ditters now obtained a place in the Vienna opera; but he was not satisfied, and in 1761 eagerly accepted an invitation to accompany Gluck, whose acquaintance, as well as that of Haydn, he had made while in the service of the prince, on a professional journey to Italy.
In Dittersdorf's quartets (at least six of which are worthy of their survival at the present day) the first violin leads indeed, but not more than is inevitable in such unsophisticated music where the normal place for melody is at the top.
August Carl DittersvonDittersdorf (November 2, 1739 – October 24, 1799) was an Austrian composer and violinist.
Ditters' early work was a prefiguration of his serious output that was to come in later years - an almost Italianate style focused on melodic development without the overt flourishes characteristic of le style français.
In 1773 the prince made Ditters Amtshauptmann of nearby Freiwaldau, one of several measures to help entice the cosmopolitan composer to remain at isolated Johannisberg; since this new post required a noble title, Ditters was sent to Vienna to become, for a fee, vonDittersdorf.
Feeds |
Contact