Born: 1778
Died: 1837
Country: Austria
Period: Classical
Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) was an important composer from the late Classical period primarily known for his solo piano compositions and piano concertos. In recent years, however, attention has been given to his chamber music, operas, and sacred works. He tended to write long-breathed melodies, often used Alberti bass accompaniments and dotted rhythms, and favored the sonata-allegro and rondo forms. Among his greatest works in the keyboardRead more genre are the Sonata in A Flat, for piano 4 hands, Op. 92, and the Sonata in F Sharp, Op. 81. His Mass, Op. 111, and some of his cantatas are also important works. Hummel wrote a highly-regarded three-volume treatise on pianism, entitled A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course on the Art of Pianoforte Playing.
Hummel was born on November 14, 1778, in Bratislava (then Pressburg), Slovakia. Young Johann's first musical studies came on the violin at the behest of his father, a player of string instruments himself, and director of the local Imperial School of Military Music. By the age of five Hummel could play the violin with proficiency. But he would abandon it in favor of the piano, on which he developed an astonishing technique by age six.
When the family moved to Vienna in 1786, Johann studied with Mozart, with whom he lived for two years. After concert appearances throughout Europe at age ten, Hummel and his father traveled to London, where they settled temporarily. Johann met Clementi there, and took private instruction from him.
Hummel returned to Vienna in 1793 and began studies with Albrechtsberger. Now 14, the young composer largely turned away from the concert stage, in favor of teaching and composing. Among his works were a set of variations for piano in 1794, and, four years later, two sonatas for piano and violin, and one for piano and viola. But he struggled with opera: Il viaggiator ridicolo (1797), and Don Anchise (c. 1800) were left incomplete. He did, however, finish Dankgefühl einer Geretten (1799).
His Piano Trio in E Flat and the Variations in G on a Romance by Méhul came in the early years of the next century, and he completed his opera Le vicende d'amore in 1804. Soon more operas would come, as well as his Concerto in G, for piano and violin. His first major appointment came in April, 1804, when he accepted the post of Concertmaster to Prince Nikolaus Esterházy at his Eisenstadt court. Hummel also wrote several masses, including the Mass in E Flat (1804), and Mass in D (1808); and he composed a Te Deum (1806), and two Salve Reginas. More operas came, too: Der vereitelten Ränke (1806) and Mathilde von Guise (1810; revised in 1821).
In May, 1811, Hummel was dismissed as Kapellmeister in a controversy and returned to Vienna to focus on composition. Two years later he married Elizabeth Röckel. Late the following year, at his wife's behest, he launched a concert tour in Vienna, scoring triumph after triumph. He subsequently toured Germany and Europe with great success, sometimes also assuming the role of conductor.
Hummel accepted the Kapellmeister posts in Stuttgart (1816) and Weimar (1819). This was a most productive period for him, as many of his best works appeared, including the Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 83 (1819), the Sonata in A Flat, for piano four hands, Op. 92 (1820), and two "birthday" cantatas for the Duke (1823 and 1827). By 1832, Hummel's health was in decline, and he frequently took leave of his Kapellmeister duties in Weimar because of sickness. He died on October 17, 1837. Read less
Label: Danacord
Catalog: DACOCD779
Release Date: 01/05/2018
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Harold Craxton,
Federico Mompou,
Issay Dobrowen,
Karol Szymanowski
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Performer:
Jonathan Plowright,
Jonathan Powell,
Yuri Favorin,
Florian Uhlig
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Label: Brilliant Classics
Catalog: 95480
Release Date: 05/26/2017
Number of Discs: 40
Composer:
Robert de Visée,
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Domenico Scarlatti,
Domenico Cimarosa
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Performer:
Krishnasol Jiménez,
Luigi Attademo,
Claudio Giuliani,
Sara Ligas
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Orchestra/Ensemble:
Quartett Orfeo,
Claude Quartet
Label: Sony
Catalog: 2367
Release Date: 11/18/2016
Number of Discs: 60
Composer:
Anonymous,
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Johannes Brahms
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Performer:
Markus Schäfer,
Jonas Will,
Johannes Pohl,
Harry Van der Kamp
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Conductor:
Konrad Ruhland,
Gustav Leonhardt,
Frieder Bernius,
Bruno Weil
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Orchestra/Ensemble:
Niederaltaich Scholars,
Tölz Boys Choir,
Baroque Orchestra
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Label: Brilliant Classics
Catalog: 95300
Release Date: 06/24/2016
Number of Discs: 40
Composer:
Johann Baptist Cramer,
Carl Czerny,
Ferdinand Ries,
Muzio Clementi
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Performer:
Akiko Sagara,
Michael Ponti,
Maria Littauer,
Felicja Blumental
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Conductor:
Pierre Cao,
Paul Angerer,
Alois Springer,
Alberto Zedda
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Orchestra/Ensemble:
Luxembourg Radio/Television Symphony Orchestra,
Southwest German Chamber Orchestra,
Hamburg Symphony Orchestra
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Label: Brilliant Classics
Catalog: 95301
Release Date: 01/29/2016
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Bartolomeo Bortolazzi,
Johann Nepomuk Hummel,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Johann Baptist Vanhal
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Performer:
Izhar Elias,
Alon Sariel,
Michael Tsalka
Label: L'oiseau Lyre
Catalog: 002386502
Release Date: 10/15/2015
Number of Discs: 50
Composer:
Johann Wenzel Stamitz,
Luigi Boccherini,
Franz Joseph Haydn,
Domenico Cimarosa
...
Performer:
Alan Hacker,
Anthony Rolfe Johnson,
Emma Kirkby,
Michael George
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Conductor:
Christopher Hogwood,
Simon Preston,
Alan Hacker,
Arnold Östman
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Academy of Ancient Music,
The Music Party,
Oxford New College Choir
...
Label: Indesens
Catalog: 75
Release Date: 09/11/2015
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Nepomuk Hummel,
Michael Haydn,
Gottfried H. Stölzel,
Tomaso Albinoni
...
Performer:
Maurice André,
Marcel Lagorce,
Rheinhold Barchet,
Kurt Redel
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Conductor:
Jean-Baptiste Mari,
Jean-François Paillard,
Karl Ristenpart,
Frans Brüggen
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Label: Decca
Catalog: 002341702
Release Date: 07/10/2015
Number of Discs: 60
Composer:
Franz Joseph Haydn,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Franz Schubert
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Performer:
Isidore Cohen,
Bernard Greenhouse,
Menahem Pressler,
Stephen Kovacevich
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Conductor:
Kurt Masur,
Bernard Haitink
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Beaux Arts Trio,
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra,
Beaux Arts Trio members
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Recommendation
Label: Indesens
Catalog: 67
Release Date: 01/13/2015
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Carl Maria von Weber,
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Performer:
Philippe Cuper,
Eric Aubier
Conductor:
Claude Schnitzler,
Vincent Barthe
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Brittany Symphony Orchestra
Label: Abc Classics
Catalog: 4763531
Release Date: 06/10/2014
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
William Lovelock,
Henri Tomasi,
Richard Mills,
Alexander Arutiunian
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Performer:
Geoffrey Payne
Conductor:
John Hopkins,
Michael Halász
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Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Label: Warner Classics
Catalog: 633624
Release Date: 05/27/2014
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Antonio Vivaldi,
Jules Massenet,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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Performer:
Anne-Sophie Mutter,
Alexis Weissenberg,
Sviatoslav Richter,
Mstislav Rostropovich
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Conductor:
Herbert von Karajan
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra,
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
Paris Orchestra
Label: Erato
Catalog: 631289
Release Date: 05/13/2014
Number of Discs: 3
Composer:
Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Johann Nepomuk Hummel,
George Frideric Handel,
Tomaso Albinoni
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Performer:
Maurice André,
Jane Parker-Smith,
Pierre Pierlot,
Gérard Jarry
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Conductor:
Louis Martini,
Herbert von Karajan,
Jean-François Paillard,
Riccardo Muti
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