On this page you will find a colourful collection of Baroque composers. Below you can read some biographics, followed by a link to the music.
If you are impatient or eager… Go to the Music directly!
Biographies
Jan Anton Losy
The Bohemian composer Jan Anton Losy (also spelled as Logy) (1643 – 1721 was quite well known amongst his fellow Baroque composers, given the fact that Silvius Leopold Weiss (1867 – 1750) composed Tombeau sur la Mort de Monseigneur Comte de Logy in remembrance of Losy’s death in 1721.
Johann Adolf Hasse
Johann Adolf Hasse (1699 – 1783) was an internationally renowned composer of operas in the Italian style in the Baroque era. His wife, the celebrated and temperamental opera singer Faustina, just kept him going.
Domenico Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti -he lived from 1685 to 1757- was one of the great Baroque composers. He was a prolific composer whose repertoire included a lot of innovations in style and composition. His best-known works are his 555 Sonatas for cembalo, that he wrote for his pupil and mistress, the Portuguese princess Maria Barbara. He taught her to play cembalo in Lisbon and when she married a Spanish prince, he followed her to Madrid. Considering the level of the Sonatas, she must have been a talented musicienne. She rewarded Domenico’s efforts by providing him a living and by paying his gambling debts.
Francisco Guerau
Francisco Guerau (1649-1722?), a contemporary of Gaspar Sanz, started his musical activities as a boy soprano in the Royal Chapel in Madrid. He “survived” the breaking of his voice and continued his career as singer, music teacher, director and composer.
In 1694 he published his collection for Spanish baroque guitar, called Poema Harmonico (harmonic poem), this piece is one of its entries. His music is clearly aimed at Spanish song- and dance forms, like Pasacallas, Canario, Jacaras and Villano.
Silvius Leopold Weiss
Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686 – 1750) was one of the foremost lute composers in the Baroque era. He worked in Rome, Düsseldorf, Dresden Munich and Vienna and had many contacts with well-known musicians from his time, like Bach. Like many music from those days, his work was forgotten after the Baroque era, but was rediscovered in our time.
Domenico Cimarosa
Domenico Cimarosa (1749 – 1801) was a composer from the transition period Baroque – Classical. As an orphan from poor parents he was very lucky to receive free musical training on the St. Maria di Loreto Conservatory in Naples, where he developed himself as a talented singer and composer. In his days, he was one of the most popular composers for comic operas. He even became Kapellmeister at the court of the Russian Czarina Catharina the Great in St. Petersburg.
Cimarosa was a political activist in his native town Naples, which yielded him some enemies: he spent the last period of his life in jail because he showed his republican ideas a little too obviously. He died in Venice in 1801.
Robert de Visée
The French composer Robert de Visée (1650 – 1725) was a court musician to Louis XIV -le Roi du Soleil- and earned a quite modest living in comparison with for example his friend and colleague Lully. De Visée wrote works for lute, baroque guitar and chamber music ensembles.
Count Ludovico Roncalli
Count Roncalli (1654–1713) was musician and composer. He is mainly known by his book Capricci armorici sopra la chitarra spagnola (Bergamo 1692). This book includes 9 ‘sonatas’ or suites for 5-string Baroque guitar in Italian tablature, every composition consists of 5 to 7 movements.
Adam Falckenhagen
Adam Falckenhagen (1697 – 1754) was a composer from the last hey-day of the baroque lute music. Like many of his colleagues, he travelled Europe to find a job at a court to earn his living.
Santiago de Murcia
Santiago de Murcia (1673 – 1739) was born in Madrid. He studied with Francisco Guerau, among others. De Murcia was a music teacher and instrument builder at the court of Maria Luisa of Savoy and it is believed that he remained in that position until her death in 1714. He did not prosper, unfortunately, he is mentioned in a declaration of poverty from 1729.
He released three collections of compositions and arrangements: Resumen de acompañar, Codice Saldivar no. 4 and Passacalles y obras. The last two were found in Mexico, probably brought from Spain by a settler.