Michal Kaňka, František Host, Jiří Hudec, Jaroslav Tůma - Josef Mysliveček: Sonate a Due Violoncelli e Basso (2022)

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Michal Kaňka, František Host, Jiří Hudec, Jaroslav Tůma - Josef Mysliveček: Sonate a Due Violoncelli e Basso (2022)

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Bohemian composer, remarkable violinist, Josef Mysliveček (1737-1781) was born close to Prague. Son of a miller, destined to follow the destiny of his father, it is nevertheless towards music that he turns, trained in his native town and encouraged by the enthusiastic reception of his first symphonies. He obtained a scholarship to Venice and migrated to Italy where his fame grew (he was nicknamed Il divino Boemo - The divine Czech), notably thanks to the success of his first opera, Semiramide, in 1766.
Considered the father of the Czech opera, Il Bellerofonte was also a great success at the court of Naples, then throughout Italy. In 1770, he met the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Bologna; Mysliveček’s influence on Mozart seems to have been important at this time, hence a certain resemblance in style.
This success lasted for almost twelve years, and the Czech composer was acclaimed throughout Europe, in particular thanks to his thirty operas. Sick, in a declining financial situation, he painfully ends his life in Rome where he is buried. His Six Sonatas for Two Cellos and Basso Continuo are quite unique in his work, and undoubtedly the result of an commission. They feature baroque and roccoco elements, despite a few moments that anticipate a form of neo-classicism.