Józef Elsner (1769-1854) - Te Deum (1815)

Gratulacje z okazji urodzin Józef Elsner! 🙏🏼🎁

Composer: Józef Elsner (1769-1854)
Work: Te Deum, Op.11 (1815)
Performers: Agnieszkа Tοmаszewska (soprano); Joаnna Dοbrаkοwska (alto); Kаrοl Kοzłοwski (tenor); Adаm Pаlkа (bass);
Capella Clаrοmontаna; Cаntores Minores Wrаtislаvienses; Jаrοsłаw Jаsiurа (conductor)

Drawing: Zygmunt Vogel (1764-1826) - The Army of the Duchy of Warsaw marching along Krakowskie Przedmiescie Street
HD image: https://flic.kr/p/2oDz3bM

Further info: http://www.musicon.pl/en/products/180...
Listen free: No available

---

Józef Antoni Franciszek (Joseph Anton Franciskus) Elsner [Elzner]
(Grodków, 1 June 1769 - Warsaw, 18 April 1854)

Polish composer and pedagogue of German origin. Born to a maker of musical instruments, he was initially intended for a career in medicine; however, he later became a choirboy, followed by a violinist and singer at the Breslau theatre. His instruction in harmony was received from Emanuel Aloys Förster in Breslau. Through the perusal of scores and association with musicians in Vienna, he subsequently held the position of first violin at the Brünn theatre in 1791 and musical director of the theatre in Lemberg in 1792. In 1799, he established himself in Warsaw, where he served as director of both German and Polish theatrical institutions. Subsequently, in 1813, in collaboration with Princess Zamoyska, he founded a musical society, which was later reconstituted as the "Warsaw Conservatory" in 1821. At this juncture, he relinquished his theatrical engagements to assume the roles of first director and professor of composition at the newly established institution. His retirement occurred in 1830, coinciding with the closure of the Conservatory due to prevailing political exigencies, though he continued his compositional pursuits. During a sojourn in Paris, select examples of his oeuvre were performed at the Tuileries and Saint-Cloud. As a composer, his output includes the opera 'Osoblievi Bracia' and approximately thirty other minor dramatic works in Polish. Additionally, he composed Masses, motets, requiems, offertories, cantatas, and numerous sacred songs, alongside symphonies, quartets, concertos, and a substantial body of piano and instrumental music. He is regarded as a precursor of the Polish national musical style, his compositions synthesizing elements of the Viennese Classical tradition with aspects of Polish folk music. He frequently incorporated Polish songs and dances into his operas, secular vocal works, and instrumental compositions, as well as Polish religious melodies into his sacred works, transforming this source material in accordance with Romantic principles. Furthermore, he demonstrated an interest in the metrical and intonational characteristics of the Polish language. The influence of the Viennese school is most discernible in his early instrumental works, although his compositional focus shifted relatively early towards vocal and stage works, many of which drew upon Polish historical sources and illustrate the evolution of his musical idiom. His solo vocal works initially employed Rococo and galant styles but subsequently adopted Romantic characteristics, exhibiting heightened expressivity and replacing strophic forms with through-composed settings.