Johann Georg Albrechtsberger was a versatile musician of many talents that is known today primarily as a composer. However, at his time many contemporaries would also recognized him as an outstanding organ virtuoso, a respected teacher of composition, a person whose composition and theory treatises were widely used and even a capable violoncellist.
Albrechtsberger was born in the village of Ebersdorf located near the famous monastery and learning center of Melk. However, he has probably commenced his education at the Monastery of Klosterneuburg where he was admitted as a choirboy at the age of 7, and where he also started to learn composition and organ performance at that early age. Later, at 13 he has moved back to Melk where he continued his education in both composition and organ. Already by the age of 20 he was able to procure first employment as an organist in Gyõr and has later continued to work in various churches in Hungary, near Melk, and finally again Melk itself (1759) - a place where he also received his first post as a teacher of composition.
The years after 1765 are not as well documented but it appears that he has voluntarily moved away from Melk again and has worked in service of Baron Neissen through Silesia and Bohemia regions. His wanderings have probably ended in 1768 when he moved to Vienna and where he also got married.
The Vienna was his home for the rest of his life and a place of his greatest achievements. Just few years after his arrival he has procured a position of organist at St. Joseph's church (present day name) and his reputation has started to grow. During that time he has also befriended young Mozart and even organized his first Viennese public piano performance in 1781. This friendship has later proved very beneficial to Albrechtsberger as Mozart helped him obtain a position in Stephansdom church in 1791 as a Leopold Hofmann's assistant. in 1793 Hofmann has died and Albrechtsberger was able to take over his post and effectively take over the most prominent church position in the Empire.
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Albrechtsberger's music style reflects his conservative upbringing and consequently the majority of his works were written for the church services. However, his activity as a freelance musician prior to arrival in Vienna during 1760ties, has enabled him to write some rather innovative chamber pieces that stand in stark contrast to his later style. Some of these early compositions also feature the Viennese bass, as in many instances the bass part is marked "Violone" - which is an older term for Viennese bass that could indicate the provincial roots of these works.
Yet here we also find an interesting contradiction. Although these early works may have been composed in the province, almost all of them are preserved in the Esterházy Collection within the National Széchényi Library in Budapest - indicating in turn a strong connection with Nikolaus Esterházy orchestra and Joseph Haydn himself. Thus it would be interesting to research further how these works may have accumulated in Esterházy's collection and moreover why the other Albrechtsberger's works have not been as widely disseminated in usual locations - monasteries or the other noble patrons' collections.
One other issue also concerns some of Albrechtsberger's later quintets and sextets. In many of them an extra "basso" part will be included in addition to the designated Violoncello part. These compositions usually belong to his Viennese years where a predilection toward the modern salon idiom would favor a "lighter" sound and thus it would be proper to assume that the "basso" was actually intended for a second violoncello. Yet the very Viennese bass tradition was still very strong at that time and the fact that Albrechtsberger has used Violone already in his earlier works may indicated that pending on the circumstances a true Viennese bass may also have been used in these compositions.
In order for this issue to be resolved a thorough investigation of all basso parts will be needed along with the modern performances of these works, so that both theory and practice can corroborate the proper instrument use.
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In the area of theory and period practice Albrechtsberger has also left much of interest for the Viennese bass tradition, as he is one of the rare authors that offers a direct proof of Viennese tuning existence and use in the actual period treatises. It has already been mentioned that Albrechtsberger was known as a respected teacher and part of his glory was carried through the two of his most popular harmony and composition treatises (1). The "Gründliche Anweisung zur Composition" is of particular interest to us as there we find one of the most intriguing statements on the period bass tunings. The text section of the German original and the 19th century English edition translation are both included here, so a direct comparison can be made.
From the presented citations one can easily deduce that the Viennese tuning was a "prime tuning" for bass players of Vienna since it is listed at the very top of the Double Bass chapter. Yet the very same chapter also presents our modern E,A,D,G tuning later in text with these words: "These, as well as double basses with three strings, are now universally found in well organized orchestras".
What was a "well organized orchestra" and at what places were these active is the question that should be answered if we really want to know how to assign a proper bass instrument in our modern period ensembles today. This statement may concern possibly the foreign (Italian and North German) orchestras or even some domestic Viennese ones? Furthermore, it may concern only the large ensembles, since than it would be easy to deduce that fretted Viennese basses were suitable only for chamber or church repertoire. However there is no need to rush with any conclusions here as the final word on this issues will have to be settled through the further research of extant period bass parts and the performance circumstances related to each individual composition.
Albrechtsberger, Johann Georg - LC and DNB name authority
Albrechtsberger, G.
Albrechtsberger, J. G.
Albrechtsberger, Jean Georges
Albrechtsberger, Johann G.
Albrekhtsberger, Iokhan Georg
> Composer, Organist, Teacher
Kurzgefasste Methode den Generalbass zu erlernen. Vienna : 1791.
Gründliche Anweisung zur Composition : mit einem Anhange von der Beschaffenheit und Anwendung aller jetzt üblichen musikalischen Instrumente. Leipzig: J. G. I. Breitkopf, 1790.
• "Double Bass" chapter in German
• "Double Bass" chapter in English
• Period Bibliographic Sources:
Dlabac, Bohumir Jan. Allgemeines historisches Künstler-Lexikon für Böhmen und zum Theil auch für Mähren und Schlesien. 2 Bde. Prag: 1815. p. 37. PDF text
Eitner, Robert, Biographisch-bibliographisches Quellen-Lexikon der Musiker und Musikgelehrten der christlichen Zeitrechnung bis zur mitte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Haertel, 1900-04. 93-96. PDF text
Fétis, Francois-Joseph. Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique. Edition: 2. éd. entièrement refondue et augmentée de plus de moitié. Paris: 1873-75. p. 58. PDF text
Gerber, Ernst Ludwig. Historisch-biographisches Lexikon der Tonkünstler (1790-1792). Leipzig: Breitkopf, 1790. c. 26-7. PDF Text
Gerber, Ernst Ludwig. Neues historisch-biographisches Lexikon der Tonkünstler (1812-1814). Leipzig: Kühnel, A. 1800-1814. c. 54-6. PDF text
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Weinmann, Alexander. Johann Georg Albrechtsberger : thematischer Katalog seiner weltlichen Kompositionen / mit Benutzung von Laszlo Somfais Autographenkatalog vorgelegt von Alexander Weinmann (Beiträge zur Geschichte des Alt-Wiener Musikverlages. Reihe 1 ; Folge 5). Wien: Musikverlag L. Krenn, 1987.
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