Joseph Wölfl

Joseph Wölfl

Genres: Classical, composer, romantic, baroque, german

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About Joseph Wölfl

Joseph Wölfl (1773 -1812) was an Austrian pianist and composer. Wölfl was born on the 24th December 1773 at Salzburg, where he studied music under Leopold Mozartand Michael Haydn. He first appeared in public as a soloist on the violin at the age of seven. Moving to Vienna in 1790 he visited Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and may have taken lessons from him. His first opera, Der Höllenberg, appeared there in 1795. Wölfl was very tall (over six feet), and with an enormous finger span (his hand could strike a thirteenth, according to his contemporary František Tomášek); to his wide grasp of the keyboard he owed a facility of execution which he turned to good account, especially in his extempore performances. Although he dedicated his 1798 sonatas op. 6 to Ludwig van Beethoven, the two were rivals. Beethoven, however, completely trounced Wölfl in a piano 'duel' at the house of Count Wetzlar in 1799, after which Wölfl's local popularity waned. After spending the years from 1801 to 1805 in Paris, Wölfl moved to London, where his first concert performance was on the 27th May 1805. Here he enjoyed commercial if not critical success. In 1808 he published his Sonata, op. 41, which, on account of its technical difficulty, he entitled Non Plus Ultra; and, in reply to the challenge, a sonata by Jan Ladislav Dussek, originally called Le Retour à Paris, was reprinted with the title Plus Ultra, and an ironic dedication to Non Plus Ultra. He also completed for publication an unfinished sonata of George Pinto. Wölfl died in Great Marylebone Street, London, on the 21st May 1812. Wölfl's works have long disappeared from the concert repertory. However, in 2003 four selected piano sonatas of his (op. 25 and op. 33) were recorded by the pianist Jon Nakamatsu. (An Adda CD in 1988 contained his three opus 28 sonatas, played by Laure Colladant, who also recorded the sonatas op. 6 for Adès in 1993 and the three op. 33 sonatas for the label Mandala in 1995.) There are also at least two symphonies, in G minor dedicated to Luigi Cherubini (O op. 40) and in C (op. 41).

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