Celebrating Carl Theodor’s Legacy in the Golden Age of Mannheim

As a continuation of their ongoing exploration of the nearly forgotten and often underrated Mannheim School of composers, Anders Muskens, Rachael Beesley, and Das Neue Mannheimer Orchester aim to tell musical stories in the form of the Ballet en action by Christian Cannabich, and programmatic music by Vogler, drawn from the monumental dramtic works of Shakespeare, Ovid, and Ariosto. This concert also celebrates the 300th jubilee of the Prince-Elector Carl Theodor (1724-1799), who cultivated a rich musical golden age in Mannheim during the 18th century.

Concert Program

Georg Joseph Vogler (1749-1814)
Hamlet Symphony (Mannheim, 1778)

Christian Cannabich (1731-1798)
Ceyx et Alcyone (Mannheim, 1762-63), ballet héroique

Christian Cannabich (1731-1798):
Angélique et Médor, ou Roland furieux (Mannheim, 1768), ballet héroïque

Directed by Anders Muskens (harpsichord), Rachael Beesley (concertmaster)
João Luís Veloso Paixão (declamation)

DAS NEUE MANNHEIMER ORCHESTER
featuring a full complement of period strings, winds (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon), brass, and percussion

Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Forschungszentrum "Hof Musik Stadt"

Concept

In this project, we will present 3 programmatic works from the Mannheim Court: the Hamlet overture (1778) by Georg Vogler, and two ballets en action by Christian Cannabich: Ceyx et Alcyone (1762) and Médor et Angélique, ou Roland furieux (1768). In order to commemorate the 300-year jubilee of Carl Theodor, the Prince-Elector who cultivated the artistic prowess of the Mannheim court, we want to revive these 3 extremely interesting works, which have been largely ignored in our times.

The composers of the Mannheim school were at the helm of a revolution which brought instrumental music to the forefront, exploring the dynamic relationships between music, drama, dance, acting, and ‘tone painting.’ This was explored through new genres: theatrical music, melodrama, and the ballet en action – a new type of narrative ballet which emerged in the mid 18th century that challenged the rigid structures of the Académie Royale de Danse established under the reign of Louis XIV. The most important progenitor of this new genre was Jean-Georges Noverre (1727–1810), but ballet reform in Mannheim was taken up by François André Bouqueton (birth and death dates unknown), and Étienne Lauchery (1732–1820), a colleague and admirer of Noverre’s, who likely often attended performances of his works in nearby Stuttgart.

While we will not present these programmatic works with dancers, we will supply the context and story of each work with a dramatic narration by João Luís Veloso Paixão, drawing on historical acting and pantomime technqiues. To this end, he has constructed a pasticcio of texts related to the various stories by Shakespeare, Ovid, and Ariosto.

The Composers and their Works

Christian Cannabich (1731–1798) was a primary driving force behind the ascent of the Mannheim Court Orchestra to unparalleled heights during its golden age in the mid 18th century. Cannabich was born in Mannheim into a musical family and studied violin with Johann Stamitz. At the age of 12, he first entered the orchestra as a ripieno violinist. Recognizing his talent, Carl Theodor granted the young virtuoso a scholarship to study in Italy, where he studied with the leading composer, Niccolò Jomelli. Armed with this newfound wisdom, he returned to Mannheim in 1757, assuming the mantle of orchestra director after the death of his former teacher, Johann Stamitz. In 1764, Cannabich accompanied Duke Christian IV to Paris to help promote the compositions of the Mannheim School composers. Mozart notably described Cannabich in July 1778 as “the best director that I have ever seen, has the love and awe of those under him.” He was long revered as one of the finest directors of an orchestra, and his students like Wilhelm Cramer went on to lead prestigious orchestras in London and abroad.

There was interest in French theatre in Mannheim, from the presence of a comedie française in the employ of the Elector (in which Lauchery reportedly also collaborated) which put on French stage plays, to the later presentation of opera by Grétry. Amongst the often-understated influences in the music of Cannabich, especially in these dramatic ballets en action, are theatrical works from the French baroque school: namely Jean-Philippe Rameau, his contemporaries, and successors. Certainly Cannabich, who was frequently in Paris, would have been familiar with this repertory, and certainly his Mannheim ballet master collaborators Bouqueton and Lauchery from Lyon (who, as stated above, was a colleague and admirer of Jean-Georges Noverre) were well versed in it. This is not only limited to the choice of source material, for the narratives of the two ballets we present appear to be based on their tragédie lyrique versions, originally set by Jean-Baptiste Lully (Roland, 1685) and Marin Marais (Alcione, 1706), but also stylistically in the music itself. The ballet en action fuses more traditional dances with pantomimic scenes that advance the plot. But Cannabich’s music remains a highly unique cosmopolitan blend of styles, which perhaps could be one of the hallmarks of Mannheim’s court music. He draws upon the Watteau-like fête galante (certainly fitting Carl Theodor’s concept of Arcadia in the Kurpfalz; case in point, the gardens in Schwetzingen, which were designed by the French architect Nicolas de Pigage) and French models of tension, orchestration, dramatic intensity, and storminess found in Lully and Rameau. But Cannabich was also a pupil of Jomelli, so Italianate songfulness, orchestral textures and galant lightness complement Cannabich’s native German precision and harmonic complexity. Therefore, when considering these works, we must try to reflect elements of these various styles.

In 1775, Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler (1749-1814) was promoted to second Kapellmeister in the Mannheim court. Despite Mozart’s antagonistic attitude towards him, Vogler was an influential pedagogue, theorist, director, and composer with a high-ranking position in one of the most important musical establishments in Europe, and constantly explored and re-evaluated the possibilities of music throughout his entire career. In many ways, he can be viewed as a much more proto-Romantic figure than Cannabich, as he paved the way for the next generation. Beginning with the establishment of the Kurpfälzische Tonschule in Mannheim, he taught many famous students including Franz Danzi, Peter von Winter, Carl Maria von Weber, and Giacomo Meyerbeer. Apart from his appointment in Mannheim, Vogler later held prominent positions at courts in Munich, Stockholm, and Darnstadt. While he was respected in his day and throughout the nineteenth century by composers such as Robert Schumann, eventually the disdainful assessment of Mozart prevailed. Mozart dismissed Vogler as a charlatan – feelings likely fuelled by jealousy. This led to a great decline of interest in Vogler’s music. Nevertheless, Vogler’s contributions should not be overlooked, and I have been trying to rehabilitate him.

The Betrachtungen der Mannheimer Tonschule was a periodical prepared and published by Vogler during 1778-81. Within its pages were musical works of note by Vogler, his students, and contemporaries. These were accompanied by detailed commentaries written by Vogler himself. Vogler composed incidental music for the premiere of the Shakespearian tragedy, Hamlet, at the Mannheim Nationaltheater in 1778: an institution established by the reigning Prince-Elector Carl Theodor one year prior to promote opera and spoken theatre in the local vernacular. Vogler later published his Overture or “Hamlet Symphony” in the Betrachtungen in 1779, accompanied by a detailed analysis of the work, explaining many aspects behind his artistic conception. This included its affective content and its relation to his choices as a composer in instrumentation, keys, and harmony. Vogler’s article is extremely dense, so for the scope of our experiment, we focused on one specific aspect: namely, the passions and actions of Hamlet which are depicted.