1739–1813 · Classical
Johann Baptist Vanhal (1739–1813) was a Czech composer who was born in Nechanice and spent most of his life in Vienna. He knew Haydn and Mozart and left about 1 300 works, and in his mature years he wrote a great deal for the piano. The site has his Rondo, Op. 42 No. 1, at intermediate level.
Vanhal was born on 12 May 1739 in Nechanice, near Hradec Králové, into a Czech peasant family, and he was a serf by birth. His first music lessons came from his family and local musicians, and one of his mentors was the organist Anton Erban. The boy showed early skill on the violin and the organ, and also played the cello.
From such modest beginnings he earned his living as organist and choirmaster in the churches of small towns in his homeland. He was also taught German from childhood, since without it no one could make a musical career in the Habsburg empire.
In 1760 the young musician came to the notice of Countess Schaffgotsch, who owned the estate at Nechanice. She took him with her to Vienna and paid for his life there. In Vienna he improved his playing and studied composition under Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.
In the city he soon made a name as a singing, violin and piano teacher to the highest aristocracy. Illustrious patrons asked him to conduct his own symphonies; among them the Erdődy family and the Dresden baron Isaac von Riesch.
In 1769 Baron Riesch funded a trip to Italy for Vanhal, where he was to learn the Italian way of composing, then very much in vogue. The journey lasted from 1769 to 1771. Little is recorded about the trip, but he met Gluck in Venice and Florian Gassmann in Rome, both fellow Bohemians.
After Italy Vanhal returned to Vienna rather than going to Riesch in Dresden. During this time he is thought to have acted from time to time as Kapellmeister for Count Erdődy in Varaždin, in Croatia, though this seems to have been part-time work. There is no evidence of visits there after 1779.
Around 1780 Vanhal stopped writing symphonies and string quartets and turned to sacred music, music for the piano and small chamber ensembles. His piano music was written for the growing middle class and gave him the means to live a modest, independent life.
For the last 30 years of his life he served no patron, and he was probably the first prominent Viennese composer to live that way. In these years Viennese printers issued over 270 of his works.
In Vienna Vanhal knew Mozart and Haydn and performed alongside them. One of his symphonies was conducted by Haydn, and Mozart performed a concerto of his. In 1782 he met Mozart, who admired his symphonies.
He enjoyed playing music with Mozart and other composer friends. Michael Kelly described a string quartet in 1784 in which Vanhal, Haydn, Mozart and Dittersdorf played together. After about 1787 Vanhal seems to have stopped performing in public, but he was financially secure and lived in good quarters near St. Stephen's Cathedral.
In later life he was also an active teacher, and one of his pupils was Ignaz Pleyel. In his old age Vanhal rarely left Vienna.
Vanhal died in Vienna on 20 August 1813, leaving no heirs. By then he was an elderly composer whose music the Viennese public still recognised. Within a few years of being written, his symphonies were being performed around the world, as far away as the United States.
Vanhal was very prolific: about 1 300 works are credited to him. The list takes in roughly 100 quartets, no fewer than 73 symphonies, 95 pieces of church music, plenty of concertos and vocal music. A good many of the symphonies use minor keys. Of the Viennese composers of his generation, nobody wrote more Masses and other Catholic church music, yet he never held a post at a religious institution.
For pianists the piano music he turned to after 1780 matters most. It was aimed at the growing middle class. Some pieces are programmatic and tied to recent events, for instance the battles of Würzburg and Abukir and Francis II's homecoming in 1809. Judging by the number of surviving manuscripts, these works were very popular.
On the site you can find his Rondo, Op. 42 No. 1, for solo piano, at intermediate level.