Thomas Baltzar (''
c''. 1630 – 24 July 1663) was a German
violin
The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
ist and composer. He was born in
Lübeck
Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...
to a musical family; his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all musicians.
[Holman, Peter. "Baltzar, Thomas". ]
Grove Music Online
' () . ed. L. Macy. Retrieved on May 31, 2008. Sources suggest an array of music teachers who may have taught him in his early years. According to the writings of
Samuel Hartlib
Samuel Hartlib or Hartlieb (c. 1600 – 10 March 1662)
M. Greengrass, "Hartlib, Samuel (c. 1600–1662)", ''Oxford D ...
, composer and violinist
Johann Schop
Johann Schop ( – 1667) was a German violinist and composer, ronounced "ʃop", thus "shope" (rhymes with "hope") much admired as a musician and a technician, who was a virtuoso and whose compositions for the violin set impressive technical dem ...
was one of those instructors. Baltzar may have studied the violin with
Gregor Zuber and
composition
Composition or Compositions may refer to:
Arts and literature
*Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography
* Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...
with
Franz Tunder
Franz Tunder (1614 – November 5, 1667) was a German composer and organist of the early to middle Baroque era. He was an important link between the early German Baroque style which was based on Venetian models, and the later Baroque style ...
. He may have also received instruction from composer and violinist
Nicolaus Bleyer, who taught Baltzar's younger brother.
[Walls, Peter (2004).]
Baltzar, Thomas (c.1630–1663)
. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
'' . Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. Retrieved on May 31, 2008.
Through contacts at Germany's embassy in Sweden (where, by 1653, Baltzar was employed), he may have come in contact with English musicians accompanying
Bulstrode Whitelocke
Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke (6 August 1605 – 28 July 1675) was an English lawyer, writer, parliamentarian, and one of the commissioners of the Great Seal during the Interregnum.
Early life
He was the eldest son of Sir James Whitelocke and ...
's mission to
Queen Christina. This possible encounter may have been the impetus for Baltzar's decision to emigrate to England in 1655, leaving behind his newly attained position of ''Ratslutenist'' of Lübeck (he had returned briefly to his home city, probably shortly after Christina's abdication in June 1654). Hartlib's writings indicate that the Swedish ambassador to England,
Christer Bonde Christer or Krister are varieties of the masculine given name Kristian, derived from the Latin name ''Christianus'', which in turn comes from the Greek word ''khristianós'', which means "follower of Christ".
The name, written in its two variants C ...
, took in Baltzar.
Baltzar's arrival in England was met with acclaim. On 4 March 1656 he performed the violin at the residence of
Roger L'Estrange
Sir Roger L'Estrange (17 December 1616 – 11 December 1704) was an English pamphleteer, author, courtier and press censor. Throughout his life L'Estrange was frequently mired in controversy and acted as a staunch ideological defender of King ...
, where
John Evelyn
John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diary, diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society.
John Evelyn's Diary, ...
was in attendance. Evelyn wrote in his ''
Diary
A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...
'' that night:
This night I was invited by Mr. Rog: L'Estrange to the incomperable ''Lubicer'' on the Violin, his variety upon a few notes & plaine ground with that dexterity, as was admirable, & though a very young man, yet so perfect & skillful as there was nothing so crosse & perplext, which being by our Artists, brought to him, which he did not at first sight, with ravishing sweetenesse & improvements, play off, to the astonishment of our best Masters: In Summ, he plaid on that single Instrument a full Consort, so as the rest, flung-downe their Instruments, as acknowledging a victory.
In September 1656, Baltzar was listed as one of the musicians who helped premiere ''
The Siege of Rhodes
''The Siege of Rhodes'' is an opera written to a text by the impresario William Davenant. The score is by five composers, the vocal music by Henry Lawes, Matthew Locke, and Captain Henry Cooke, and the instrumental music by Charles Coleman and ...
'' in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
thought to have been the first all-sung English opera. Two years later, according to
Anthony Wood, he was employed as a private musician for Sir Anthony Cope at
Hanwell House
Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing. It is about west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post town.
Hanwell is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. St ...
in
Banbury
Banbury is an historic market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. The parish had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census.
Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding ...
.
Wood, who had heard Baltzar play at a performance in Warden
John Wilkins
John Wilkins (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an English Anglican ministry, Anglican clergyman, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher, and author, and was one of the founders of the Royal Society. He was Bishop of Chester from 1 ...
's lodgings at
Wadham College
Wadham College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham, a ...
,
Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, described his "very great astonishment" at the German's skill.
"
saw him run his fingers to the end of the
finger-board of the violin, and run them back insensibly," he wrote, "and all with alacrity and in very good tune, which
nor any in England saw the like before."
Also in attendance was
John Wilson John Wilson may refer to:
Academics
* John Wilson (historian) (1799–1870), author of ''Our Israelitish Origin'' (1840), a founding text of British Israelism
* John Wilson (agriculturalist) (1812–1888), British agriculturalist
* John Matthias ...
, a professor of music at the
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
, who, according to Wood, bowed at Baltzar's feet after the performance.
However, Wood also observed of Baltzar that "he was given to excessive drinking."
On 23 December 1661 Baltzar entered
Charles II's service as a leader of the king's private music ensemble, the "four and twenty fiddlers," succeeding
Davis Mell in the post.
He was given an annual salary of
£110, a high figure for the time.
Some of Baltzar's surviving compositions, including a work in
C major
Major most commonly refers to:
* Major (rank), a military rank
* Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits
* People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames
* Major and minor in musi ...
that may be the earliest
suite
Suite may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Suite (music), a set of musical pieces considered as one composition
** Suite (Bach), a list of suites composed by J. S. Bach
** Suite (Cassadó), a mid-1920s composition by Gaspar Cassadó
** ''Suite' ...
for three violins,
require virtuosity and technical mastery. According to Wood, Baltzar's drinking habits contributed to his death. He was buried in the
cloisters
A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a warm southe ...
of
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...
on 27 July 1663.
References
External links
*
*
*
Free scoresat the
Mutopia Project
The Mutopia Project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books. It started in 2000.
The music is reproduced from old scores that are in th ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baltzar, Thomas
1630s births
1663 deaths
17th-century German classical composers
17th-century male musicians
German Baroque composers
German classical violinists
German male classical composers
German male classical violinists
German male violinists
German violinists
Musicians from Lübeck