Andrea Luchesi

Andrea Luca' Luchesi' was born with the Motta di Livenza, in the Province of Trévise, in Venezia the May 23rd 1741 and died in Bonn, the March 21st 1801). It was a Italian Compositeur.

Biography

Andrea Luchesi left at 15 years its birthplace for Venice, with a good cultural and musical formation received from his/her Matteo brother, priest, public tutor and Organiste. Its family belonged to a group of noble families originating in Lucques (from where the name Luchesi, that one find writes also Luchese, Lucchese, Lukesi, etc by her contemporaries) who had been established in the République of Venice for a long time.

In Venice, thanks to the protection and with the councils of Jseppo Morosini, noble influential and musician amateur, he studied with the best musicians of the moment (such as Gioacchino Cocchi, Ferdinando Bertoni, Baldassare Galuppi). Its theoretical preparation profited from the didactic and artistic relations which it had with two of the musical theorists most advanced of the time, the Father Francesco Antonio Vallotti (who codified the theory of the Dissonance) and the Count Giordano Riccati (Mathématicien, physicist Acoustique, Architecte,… author of a Essai on the laws of the counterpoint) ¹.

Its career as organist and type-setter was fulgurating: at 20 years it was named in the commission which examined the candidates organists, with 23 titular organist of San Salvatore; famous like virtuoso of the Organ, one invited it for the inauguration of these instruments (in particular new organ of the Basilique Saint Antoine with Padoue). It composed of the music for keyboard (organ, Clavecin), instrumental, crowned, for the theater. It was charged to compose for significant events, such as the Festival of San Rocco (1769) or the solemn Funérailles of the Duke of Montealegre, Spanish Ambassadeur in Venice (1771). Its fame was propagated quickly in Europe; in 1763 it sent to the court of prince Esterházy the first of a series of Symphonie S which is currently in the catalogs Hob. works of Haydn. In spring of 1765 its Comic opera " Insulated beyond fortuna" was represented in Hoftheater of Vienna (begun again then in Venice and Lisbon has). Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart visited him in 1771 and Luchesi “lent to them” one of its concertos for harpsichord.

At the end of 1771 it left for Bonn, with the invitation of the Prince-Voter of Cologne Maximilian Friederich which wished to raise the level of its musical vault and appointed it its private choirmaster; it was about a formal retraction, because the load of choirmaster ( Kapellmeister ) of the court was with life and one could not replace that in place. Luchesi made the voyage with a small team of “experts “(whose only first violin Gaetano Mattioli will remain in Bonn until 1784). Very quickly, the vault of Bonn was classified among best Germany and of Europe. After the death of the preceding choirmaster (Ludwig van Beethoven grandfather of Beethoven), Andrea Luchesi is officially named Kapellmeister in 1774. The load requires the naturalization of Luchesi. In 1775 it Maria with Anthonetta d' Anthoin, girl of one of the principal advisers of the Prince-Voter. It remained in Bonn until the end of its life, with only one bracket in 1783-84 when it went to Venice. The invasion of the French troops in 1794 put an end to the court of Cologne/Bonn; Luchesi had been put at the retirement and passed from a life hitherto easy to have to overcome some economic difficulties.

Among the many pupils that Luchesi had like Kapellmeister in Bonn, one finds Antonin Reicha, Bernhard and Andreas Romberg, F. Laugh and Beethoven, more endowed with all. Beethoven remained with the vault during a dozen years (until its departure for Vienna), as assistant organist, Claveciniste and player of viola. When, during his absence in 1783, the organist of court C.G. Neefe replaced temporarily the Kapellmeister with the musical direction of the vault, Luchesi charged Beethoven (12 years old) with taking its place with the organ.

Work

The type-setter and Musicologue Jean-Benjamin of Border wrote about 1780 about Luchesi: " It enjoys a rare advantage among Italian, which its simphonies is required in Germany " ². However, not only its symphonies but the majority of works which he wrote appear to be volitilized during almost two centuries. These last years, of the searchs for musicologists brought more and more evidence to the assumption that this disappearance was due to a combination of facts and habits of the 18th century and an organized attempt at obliteration.

As regards the habits, for example, the transfer by a type-setter with a purchaser of a work with the right for the purchaser to use it as his was of use enough running. Luchesi as from 1763 delivered several work with prince Esterházy or directly with Joseph Haydn. Concerning the activity of Kapellmeister, the use wanted that he writes free work for the vault, preserved like anonymous works, allotted to his name after the end of his mandate (for resignation or death). Luchesi complied with the rule formally, because one does not find work with his name after 1774 (with some exceptions, as for the visit in Venice). Lastly, some editors did not hesitate to publish works under the name of type-setters whom they believed more profitable, instead of the name of the true author.

As regards the facts: at the time of the nomination of 1774 there was most probably an agreement between Luchesi and the Voter Maximilian Friederich, under the terms of which Luchesi could (apart from its duties of composition for the vault) make circulate works, under the name of Ferdinand d' Anthoin (his/her brother-in-law) or of Haydn, which it could sell freely. In 1784, the successor max Franz tried to replace Luchesi by his friend and protected Mozart, but without success. Luchesi apparently had however to negotiate a new agreement, under which work `except vault' was to be provided under the name of Mozart. The name of Ferdinand d' Anthoin will reappear between 1791 and the end of 1793 (dates of death of Mozart and Anthoin, respectively).

Max Franz wanted also a Inventaire musical Archives of the court of Bonn. Neefe finished it at the beginning of May 1784, right before the return to Bonn de Luchesi. In October 1794, the files were transported to the castle of Bad Mergentheim right before the arrival of the French troops. Finally, most of these documents arrived at the library (Biblioteca Estense) of the duke of Modena about 1836.

The Voter max Franz, who were the brother of the Empereur, and the imperial entourage had any interest to support that from now on the new center of musical radiation was dependant on Habsbourg and their capital. With this intention most probably one developed the idea to exaggerate the musical giant merits of `' (like Joseph Haydn, Mozart and later Beethoven) to present like almost self-educated and whose genius would have opened out in the neighborhoods of Vienna, this with the detriment of foreign type-setters. This interpretation is obviously contrary to the traditional presentation of the musical history of the period known as traditional. One in addition did not find a better explanation to the attempt at obliteration of Luchesi of the musical history, attempt whose musicologists are discovering traces more and more. The personal file of Luchesi also disappeared, perhaps dispersed after its death. While waiting for other progress of musicologic research in progress, one can consider his work according to the following groupings:

Works with its name or easily ascribable to Luchesi

Comic operas: Insulated beyond fortuna (1765), It marito geloso (1766), gives It sempre gives (1767), It giocatore amoroso (1769), It matrimonio per astuzia (1771), It Native di Giove, the inganno scoperto ovvero it tells Caramella (1773)
Ademira, `opera seriated' (1784), in the honor of the visit of the king of Sweden Gustave III in Venice.
Harlequin deserter ( Harlequin deserter become magician, or the doctor ideal husband ), Dramatic ballet (1774)

Many compositions of sacred music, of which: Oratorio Sacer trialogus (1768), Stabat MATER (env.1770), Requiem (for the funeral of State of the duke of Montealegre, 1771) in major F, Mass for San Lorenzo in Venice, Mass for the festival of the design of Marie with Vérone, Te Deum for the Hospital of Incurabili in Venice.

Music of circumstance, for example: For the festival of San Rocco in Venice (1769), Serenade for the duke of Brunswic (1764), Cantata for the duke of Wurttemberg (1767).

Sonata S and other compositions for Organ

2 Symphony S (1768)
6 Sonatas for harpsichord and violin (`per it cembalo idiot the accompagnamento di a violino') Op.1 (Bonn, 1772)
3 (or 6?) Symphonies Op.2 (Bonn, 1773) - disappeared
Concerto for harpsichord (Bonn, 1773) - four other concertos/trios disappeared

Cantata for the election with Eveque of the Archduke max Franz (1785 - allotted Luchesi in the File of the town of Bonn has)

the anonymous work `' (mainly of the sacred music) composed as Kapellmeister which is in the files preserved at Modena. Certain documents indicated in the inventory of 1784 did not arrive to Modena, like 100 work for between acts .

works which circulated under the name of Ferdinand d' Anthoin disappeared.

Works being in the catalogs of other type-setters

With a striking coincidence, Mozart started to hold a catalog of his works in 1784, the year of the agreement supposed between max Franz and Luchesi. Which among the work registered with the Koechel catalog of Mozart as composed from 1784 are actually the work of Luchesi? It will take time to find a consensus on this subject. However, one can most probably allot to Luchesi at least 10 symphonies, i.e. 9 symphonies indicated like `of various authors' in the inventory of Neefe and who arrived to Modena marked `Mozart' and a symphony indicated like anonymity but known today like No 41 `Jupiter' of Mozart. Among the others one finds the symphonies which one knows like 31,33,35,36,38,39,40. Recently one could see in a copy of No 31 preserved at Regensburg that the name `Lucchese' had been erased and `Mozart' written in his place.

Several musicologists think today that most of the symphonies and masses of Haydn were actually made up by others, in particular Giovanni Battista Sammartini and Luchesi. In any case, at least 28 symphonies of the inventory of Neefe arrived to Modena marked `Haydn' are most probably the work of Luchesi. One knows also No of the Hoboken catalog of some symphonies sent of Venice to prince Esterházy (Hob. 13,22,24,28,31,41,55). It is even very probable that Haydn received from Luchesi to Bonn the symphonies Londoniennes before going to London.

There are finally some attibuées works doubtfully with Beethoven which probably come they also from Luchesi: 3 Quartet S with piano (WoO36), the cantatas WoO87 and 88, the Trio WoO37, the Concerto WoO4, the Hess serenade.

---- ¹ G.Taboga, Episteme No 4, September 2001 (in Italian English/)

² Essai on the music, Paris, 1780 ----

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