Gottfried van Swieten

Baron Gottfried van Swieten (1733-1803) was a minor aristocrat of the Austrian Empire during the eighteenth century. He is remembered today for his friendship and collaboration with several great composers of the Classical era, including Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

His influence on Classical composers

Mozart

Van Swieten familiarized Mozart with the works of J. S. Bach and Handel, by sharing (around 1782-1783) the manuscripts he had collected during his long stay in Berlin. This process took place at regular Sunday musical gatherings at van Swieten's rooms in the Imperial Library. The experience of encountering the greatest composers of the Baroque era had a profound effect on Mozart and greatly influenced his later compositions.

Related Topics:
Mozart - J. S. Bach - Handel - Baroque

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In the late 1780's, van Swieten organized the Gesellschaft der Associierten ("Society of the Associated"), an organization of music-loving nobles. With the financial backing of this group, van Swieten was able to pursue further the interest in Baroque music that he shared with Mozart. The Gesellschaft commissioned Mozart to prepare four works by George Frideric Handel for performance according to contemporary taste. Of these commissions, the best remembered today is Mozart's edition of Handel's oratorio Messiah, which included new parts for flutes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and trombones, as well as more notes for the timpani. Mozart's edition was performed under the Gesellschaft's auspices in 1789.

Related Topics:
George Frideric Handel - Oratorio - Messiah

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When Mozart died in 1791, van Swieten attempted (in vain) to organize a proper funeral for him.

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Haydn

Van Swieten was Haydn's close collaborator on the two oratorios The Creation (1798) and The Seasons (1801). He selected and translated the source material (from John Milton and James Thomson, respectively) from English into German, and also provided (often rather awkward) retranslations into English to fit the rhythm of Haydn's music. (Both works were first published in bilingual editions.)

Related Topics:
Haydn's - The Creation - The Seasons - John Milton - James Thomson

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Van Swieten also made many specific suggestions to Haydn about how various passages in the libretto should be musically set. One such example is the moving episode in The Creation in which God tells the newly-created beasts to be fruitful and multiply. Van Swieten's paraphrase of Genesis reads:

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Seid fruchtbar alle,

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Mehret euch!

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Bewohner der Luft, vermehret euch, und singt auf jedem Aste!

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Mehret euch, ihr Flutenbewohner

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Und füllet jede Tiefe!

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Seid fruchtbar, wachset, und mehret euch!

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Erfreuet euch in eurem Gott!

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Be fruitful all

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And multiply.

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Dwellers of the air, multiply and sing on every branch.

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Multiply, ye dwellers of the tides,

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And fill every deep.

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Be fruitful, grow, multiply,

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And rejoice in your God!

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Haydn's musical setting stems from a suggestion of van Swieten's that the words should be sung by the bass soloist over an unadorned bass line. As usual, Haydn only partly followed van Swieten's suggestion, and after pondering, he added to his bass line a rich layer of four-part harmony for divided cellos and violas, crucial to the final result.

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The premieres of The Creation and The Seasons took place under the auspices of the Gesellschaft der Associierten, who also provided financial guarantees needed for Haydn to undertake long-term projects.

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Beethoven

Van Swieten was one of the Viennese aristocrats whose financial support made possible the early career progress of Beethoven. It is possible that van Swieten's sponsorship of Beethoven arose not just because of the young man's talent, but also because during his early career he often performed preludes and fugues from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, a work that Beethoven knew very well, in the salons of Vienna.

Related Topics:
Beethoven - Well-Tempered Clavier

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The composer's First Symphony is dedicated to van Swieten.

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Other associations

Earlier in his career, while in Berlin, van Swieten had also supported the career of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, commissioning six symphonies from him. One of C. P. E. Bach's most famous works, the third set of Sonaten für Kenner und Liebhaber, is dedicated to van Swieten.

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Johann Nikolaus Forkel, the first biographer of Bach, dedicated his book to van Swieten.

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