Johannes Matthias Sperger, also often Johann, ( Czech: Jan Matyáš Sperger; 23 March 1750 – 13 May 1812) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

ist and composer. Sperger was born in

Feldsberg Valtice (; german: Feldsberg) is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,600 inhabitants. It is known as part of Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town c ...

,At the time of his birth, Feldsberg was part of

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt ...

. and trained from 1767 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

as a contrabassist and composer. He worked from 1777 in the

Hofkapelle A court chapel (German: Hofkapelle) is a chapel, chapel (building) and/or a chapel (music), chapel as a musical ensemble associated with a royal or noble court. Most of these are Royal chapel, royal (court) chapels, but when the ruler of the court ...

of the Archbishop of

Pressburg Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

. From 1778 he was also a member in the Wiener Tonkünstlersozietät, in whose concerts he appeared several times with his own works and as soloist. From 1783 to 1786, Sperger was a member of the Hofkapelle of

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New Yor ...

Ludwig von Erdödy Ludwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ludwig (surname), including a list of people * Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and c ...

Kohfidisch Kohfidisch (; hu, Gyepűfüzes, hr, Gornji Fideš, Burgenland Croatian: ''Zgornji Fideš'') is a municipality in the district of Oberwart in the Austrian state of Burgenland Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ' ...

. From 1789 he was employed as first contrabassist of the Mecklenburg Schwerin Hofkapelle in

Ludwigslust Ludwigslust () is a central castle town of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, 40 km south of Schwerin. Since 2011 it has been part of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. Ludwigslust is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The former royal re ...

. He was an extremely productive composer who wrote at least forty-four

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

, numerous instrumental concertos, among them are eighteen contrabass concertos. Furthermore, he also wrote

sonatas Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

, rondos and dances, cantatas, choral works, and airs. He died in

, aged 62.

Notes

External links

* * 1750 births 1812 deaths 18th-century classical composers 18th-century Austrian male musicians 18th-century Austrian people 19th-century male musicians Austrian male classical composers Austrian expatriates in Germany Austrian Classical-period composers People from Valtice Pupils of Johann Georg Albrechtsberger {{Austria-composer-stub