Johannes Sperger
Johannes (Matthias) Sperger – his baptismal register does not record the middle name Matthias, though it was in frequent use – was born on 23 March 1750 in the small town of Feldsberg, then part of Lower Austria (today Valtice, Czech Republic), the son of the town's herdsman. Since one of his godparents served at the princely Liechtenstein court, family ties to the court must have existed – a connection that may have had a bearing on Sperger's early musical training, which remains undocumented. The musical life of the Brothers Hospitallers likely also stimulated his musical interests. By 1767 at the latest, Sperger travelled to Vienna for further training, studying music theory with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and double bass with Friedrich Pichelberger. The following decade, from 1767 to 1777, remains largely undocumented. Around 1776 he married Anna Tarony, who came from Linz on the Danube; this period also saw the composition of his first symphonies (A 1 to A 6). It is still unknown in which orchestra Sperger was active before he joined, in 1777, the court chapel of the prince-bishop and later cardinal of Hungary, Prince Joseph von Batthyány, in Pressburg (Bratislava).
During his Pressburg years, 1777 to 1783, Sperger was extraordinarily productive, composing symphonies, solo concertos, Feldpartien (wind partitas) and chamber music. From 1778 he was also a member of the Viennese Tonkünstlersocietät, performing at its concerts several times both with his own works – symphonies and concertos – and as a soloist. Following the reform policies of Emperor Joseph II, Prince Joseph von Batthyány was forced to disband his court chapel in 1783. Between 1783 and 1786 Sperger was a member of the court chapel of Count Ludwig von Erdödy in Kohfidisch (today in southern Burgenland, Austria). In 1789 he was appointed to the Mecklenburg-Schwerin court chapel, where he remained until his death in 1812.
Quartet for Horn, Violin, Viola and Bass in E-flat Major
| This quartet survives as a manuscript (Mus. 5190/21) in score, held in the music collection of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern State Library in Schwerin. The horn part goes up to sounding a-flat’’. The third movement, an Adagio, was inserted at a later date; the reverse of the manuscript contains various sketches for minuets. It is highly likely that this manuscript is not a copy but an autograph in Sperger's own hand, and it is published here in print for the first time. |  |
Recorded by Miklós Nagy, available on CD.