Antonio Casimir Cartellieri: a forgotten master at the Viennese Court

Elia Celegato

The solo clarinet compositions of Antonio Casimir Cartellieri (1772-1807) are comparatively unknown in these days, although during his lifetime his works were widely acclaimed in the Viennese Court. This research has a threefold purpose: Reconstructing the life of Antonio Casimir Cartellieri; locating and procuring as many of Cartellieri’s works as possible; studying the selected compositions; assessing both his historical role in the clarinet repertory and the value of his compositions for the instrument. The results are presented in three chapters. The first one contains a biography of Cartellieri, the second deals with Cartellieri’s repertoire and the last chapter, the most important, contains the analysis of the clarinet solo works. Observation upon Cartellieri’s compositional style and treatment of the clarinet will be drawn from the analysis of the four clarinet concertos and the four clarinet quartets. With regards to the nowadays clarinet performer, Cartellieri’s compositions serve as a model representing the best traits of the late eighteenth-century wind virtuoso school. Furthermore, they provide a repertory bridging the gap between the old style of Stamitz and Mozart, and the new style of Weber, and Spohr. The concertos and the quartet are excellent training pieces for clarinet students, showing formal characteristics of the period. They are pleasant, charming, and unassuming works of the chamber genre, idiomatically suited for the solo instrument, emphasizing directness and balance of conventional structure. Cartellieri’s works were undoubtedly fashionable vehicles for displaying the Viennese Clarinets virtuosos. They possess a high degree of musical craftsmanship with moments of true musical inspiration.

I would like to thank all the people who helped bring this research to life. Firstly, to my

knowledgeable supervisor, Bart van Oort: many thanks for helping me think outside the box

and encouraging me to pursue ever the spontaneous, unique and exciting world of the

Viennese Court in 18th and 19th century.

Thanks to Eric Hoeprich for teaching me historical clarinet during my studies at the Royal

Conservatory of The Hague. I have gained technical, musical and expressive confidence

from my lessons with this amazing musician and teacher.

Thanks to the administration of the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague, for the

belief in this research and for the support during the project "Cartellieri, Divertimenti for

Harmoniemusik". Thank also to Francesco Spendolini and Hugo Arteaga, for sharing your

knowledge during the project and for the for the amazing experience I had when working

on the interpretation of the Cartellieri works.

In order to write this paper, many libraries were requested to supply information and

material pertinent to the study. Without the services of cooperative librarians, a paper of

this type would be improbable if not it would not be possible to write a paper on this

subject.I wish to thank Dr. Andrea Harrandt (Musiksammlung der Österreichischen

Nationalbibliothek), Zuzana Petraskova (National Library of CZ) and Michaela Hejlová

(Library Prague Conservatory) for their personal help with the manuscripts of the

Cartellieri’s works. Thanks to Martina Tionová, Executive Assistant to William and

Alexandra Lobkowicz and head of The Lobkowicz Collections in the Prague Castle and to

Petr Slouka, musicologist and curator of the Lobkowicz music archive. Moreover, thanks

to Martie Severt (Library of Koninklijk conservatorium in The Hague), Sarah Damery

(Butler University Libraries), Ilse Kosz (Archiv, Bibliothek und Sammlungen der

Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien) and Doris Jaenisch (Universitätsbibliothek

Osnabrück).

Thanks to Dr. Josef Löffler (Institute of Austrian Historical Research of the University of

Vienna), for the transcription of the Report of Joseph Cartellieri on the life of his father

Antonio Casimir Cartellieri, 16-12-1826. A special thanks to Anna Zanovello for the help

with the translations from German, and to Madeleine Bouïssou for the enormous editing

work.

Last but not least, to my family and friends for showing patience and support through this

journey. Most of all, I wish to thanks my parents, Maurizio and Eliana, who sustained me

in these two years of master abroad and because they always encouraged me to explore and

question the world and try to make sense of it: thus I wish to dedicate this research to them.

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Acknowledgements

-Index-

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