Johann Georg Pisendel

Johann Georg Pisendel

Source: Bach Cantatas

Born on 26 December 1687 in Cadolzburg near Nuremberg, Johann Georg Pisendel was prolific at the tedious labor of inscribing scores, but left a limited legacy of compositions, unassisted by many lost or of uncertain authorship. As a violin master, Pisendel composed largely for that instrument.

Pisendel's father was a cantor and organist in Cadolzburg. At age nine Johann Georg became a choirboy in Ansbach where he probably studied violin under Giuseppe Torelli. He was hired to play violin in the Dresden Court Orchestra, but left for Leibniz in 1709 where he became a member of Georg Telemann's Collegium musicum (a musical society). Returning to Dresden in 1712, Pisendel joined the court orchestra once again and remained with it the rest of his life. Dresden followed Leipzig as a major city in German Saxony, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire allied with the papal Rome, Spain and Venice, France and Protestant England imperatively not, excepting England's usefulness in keeping French power in check. It was in Saxony that the Protestant faith first originated in Wittenberg via Martin Luther in 1517. There was, of course, a lot of killing done in the regions either hostile or protective of the Protestant belief as successive rulers of local principalities wrestled it out. The 1555 Peace of Augsburg allowed principalities to choose between Catholicism or Lutheranism, the considerably greater portion of which preferred the former. This didn't, however, mean freedom of religion. Calvinism wasn't made legal within the Empire until the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 addressing the Protestant trouble in other areas of Europe like France and the Dutch Republic (Netherlands). Albeit millions of lives had been lost in the contest between Catholicism and Protestantism in northern Europe, these weren't rivalries on the national scale that France had spent centuries being to all the siblings of Roman popes that were the rest of Europe excepting England. Be as may, Electors of Saxony during most of Pisendel's lifetime were King of Poland Augustus II the Strong (also Augustus I / 1670-1733) and his son, King of Poland Augustus III (also Augustus II / 1696-1763), both once Protestant but converting to Catholicism, Augustus II in 1697. Augustus III converted in 1712 while traveling in Italy. Howsoever, the Saxony that was once a nest to Lutheranism and Protestant under John George III (father of Augustus the Strong) had become Catholic during Pisendel's youth.

In 1687 John George III sent his son, Augustus I the Strong, on a two-year tour of Europe to learn the arts of the royal court, observing such as formal etiquette upon visiting King Louis XIV at Versailles in addition to noble houses in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary and Vienna [Kuras]. A quarter century later Augustus the Strong sent his son, Augustus II, on a similar European tour which Pisendel accompanied as a violin virtuoso. King Louis XIV received the second Augustus at Versailles in 1714, after which Pisendel followed Augustus to destinations in Germany, Italy and eventually Venice in 1717 where Pisendel was permitted to extend his stay for several months beyond Augustus' return to Germany in order to study with Vivaldi. Pisendel then studied with Francesco Montanari in Rome and Martino Bitti in Florence before heading back to Saxony in 1717. Pisendel had met and worked with J.S. Bach in Weimar in 1709. In 1717 Bach visited with Pisendel again in Dresden when, it is thought, Pisendel showed him the score for his 'Sonata in A minor' for unaccompanied violin perhaps written the year before. Bach's own 'Sonata in A minor' for unaccompanied violin arrived shortly later in 1720. As Pisendel spent his earlier career performing as a violin virtuoso, violin sonatas were among earlier works.

'Violin Sonata in A minor'   JunP IV.2   Johann Georg Pisendel

For unaccompanied violin estimated 1716

Violin: Rachel Barton Pine   Ravinia Festival   Illinois  23 Aug 2014

"J" designations in Pisendel refer to Hans Rudolf Jung's 'Johann Georg Pisendel: Leben und Werk. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Violinmusik der Bach-Zeit' published in 1956. Pisendel's compositions had been highly influential to other composers during his day, less so in modern times, that not assisted by the loss of Shrank II in the bombing of Dresden during World War II, that having been a large collection of manuscripts by numerous composers including Pisendel. Also destroyed during the bombing of Dresden was Schrank I. Schrank I (Cabinet I) consisted of works composed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries archived at the Royal Court of Dresden. Schrank II contained works written in the eighteenth century including Albinoni, Vivaldi, Telemann, Händel and Quantz. Composers in the reconstructed Schrank II compilation of nearly 1,750 works are assigned call numbers of which Pisendel's is 2421. Violin sonatas are assigned "R" numbers of which only five are positively thought to be composed by Pisendel: R-1, R-2, R-5, R-12 and R-15 [Fehser].

Examining composition under Johann Heinichen in 1718, Pisendel's violin concertos probably began to arrive about that time or soon after. His orchestral 'Sinfonia' is likely of later date upon Pisendel becoming concert master of the Dresden Court Orchestra in 1728. That orchestra would consist of forty members in 1732 with ten at violin. Pisendel composed in French, German and Italian styles, the latter favored at the Dresden Court. Surviving autographs include ten violin concertos, four concertos for orchestra, two violin sonatas, a trio sonata and a sinfonia. The dating of many of his works must nevertheless be given wide windows, difficult to estimate even between early or late three decades apart. The concertos below are not dropped in chronological order by date of composition: they are stacked according to MS compilation dates determined at IMSLP. We begin with a couple concertos on which 'Concerto da Chiesa' ('Concert for Church') is written on the manuscript of one [IMSLP] and 'Concerto da Camera' ('Concert for Chamber') on the other [IMSLP]. [See sonata da chiesa / concerto da camera.]

'Violin Concerto in G minor'   'Concerto da Chiesa'   JunP 1.1.a   Johann Georg Pisendel

For violin / strings / continuo

In MS compiled 1720-1745

Vienna Chamber Orchestra /  Zlatko Topolski   Violin: Roman Totenberg 1964

'Violin Concerto in B-flat major'   'Concerto da Camera'   IJP 8   Johann Georg Pisendel

For violin / strings / continuo

In MS compiled 1720-1745

Ensemble Diderot   Violin: Johannes Pramsohler

'Concerto in E-flat major'  JunP II.1   Johann Georg Pisendel

For 2 oboes / bassoon / strings / continuo

In MS compiled 1730-1750

Virtuosi Saxoniae / Ludwig Güttler

'Sinfonia in B-flat major'  J III.1   Johann Georg Pisendel

For 2 flutes / 2 oboes / bassoon / 2 horns / strings / continuo

In MS compiled 1745-1760

Bacchanalia Baroque Ensemble   NYC   Nov 2022

Pisendel died in Dresden on 25 November 1755. His pupils included Johann Gottlieb Graun and Franz Benda. His most important compatriot simply as a friend may well have been Jan Zelenka.