Schenck: Nymphs Of The Rhine, Vol. 2

Description

Johannes Schenck(1660-after 1712) Le Nymphe di Rheno,Op. 8, Vol. 2Details of the life of Johannes Schenck are relatively sparse and thesubject of varied speculation. He was born in Amsterdam, where he was baptizedon 3rd June 1660 into the Reformed Church. Nothing is known of his teachers,but he established himself as a distinguished virtuoso on the viola da gamba.In this he followed the tradition established by performers from England suchas Daniel Norcombe, who was earlier employed at the court of Archduke Albert inBrussels. Henry Butler, musician and viol teacher to Philip IV of Spain, andWilliam Young, who served at the court of Archduke Carl Ferdinand in Innsbruck.An undated engraving in Amsterdam by Peter Schenck, once thought to have been ayounger brother of the composer but apparently unrelated, shows the formallydressed and bewigged virtuoso standing to play, with his six-string bass violresting on a footstool, in the performance style of the time. As a composer hiswork represents an early synthesis of French, German and Italian styles.It would seem that Schenck spent the earlier pan of his career inAmsterdam, where his compositions included music for a Dutch Singspiel,Bacchus Ceres en Venus, from which songs were published in 1687, as well asworks for his own instrument. Enjoying a wide reputation as a performer, inabout 1696 he moved to D??sseldorf to the court of the Elector Palatine JohannWilhelm, known as Jan Wellem, who ruled there from 1679 until his death in1716, establishing a court that aimed to rival the artistic magnificence ofVersailles. Here Schenck served with a group of musicians drawn from variouscountries. The court opera, which had been seen in Amsterdam, flourished with,among other operas, Kapellmeister Sebastiano Moratelli's Il fabbro pittore, basedon the life of the Netherlands painter Quentin Matsys, which had been staged inthe Elector's an gallery in 1695. His successor Johann von Wilderer's Lamonarchia stabilita was mounted with singular splendour for the visit toD??sseldorf of Carlos III of Spain in 1703. It was to the Elector that Corellidedicated his Concerti grossi and from D??sseldorf that Handel, whovisited the court in 1710 and 1711, was able to recruit the famous castratoBaldassari. Other musicians of distinction connected with the D??sseldorf courtincluded briefly the great lutenist Sylvius Weiss, together with his father andbrother, while, in 1715, the violinist-composer Veracini performed there.Schenck is presumed to have continued in the service of the Electoruntil the latter's death in 1716. Thereafter the electoral court moved toMannheim, followed by a number of the D??sseldorf musicians, who formed thenucleus of a musical establishment that was to win its own unchallengedreputation, as the century went on.Doubts as to the date of Schenck's death, presumably in D??sseldorf, comefrom the lack of any mention of his death in Protestant church records in thecity. From this it has been supposed that he ma