Johann Hartmann

Johann Ernst Hartmann (24 December 1726 – 21 October 1793) was a Danish classical composer and violinist. He is remembered in particular for his two operas on texts by Johannes Ewald in which he helped creating a national musical style. The first of these, Balders død, builds on the old Nordic mythology and uses dark colours when depicting the old Gods and Valkyries. The second, Fiskerne, describes contemporary fishermen’s lives, and uses melodies inspired by the Scandinavian folk style. Most of the works of Hartmann were destroyed in the fire of Christiansborg Castle shortly after his death. Hartmann was the ancestor of a long line of musicians and composers and other cultural personalities in Denmark. Life Johann Hartmann was born in Groß-Glogau in Silesia on Christmas Eve 1726. In 1754 he started as violinist in the orchestra of the Archbishop of Breslau, Count Schaffgotsch; later he became concertmaster in the small town of Rudolstadt, and then in Plön under Duke Frederick Charles. When the Duke died in 1761, his Duchy became Danish, the Plön Chapel was dissolved and Hartmann together with some of the other orchestra musicians went to Copenhagen. In Copenhagen he was immediately employed as a violinist in the Royal Chapel (Det Kongelige Kapel), became a sought after music teacher, including for the later King Christian VII. In 1768 he was promoted to concertmaster, a post he held for twenty-five years. He also quickly became a driving force in the chamber concerts held at the Court in the years around 1770 as well as participated in or conducted concerts in private gatherings such as the so-called Gjethus concerts, which began in 1774, or as leader of the concerts in the Harmonic Society. The prevailing opera style at Hofteatret and Det Kongelige Teater was then still Italian-inspired, but the fashion was slowly shifting to a simpler French-inspired style and Hartmann was repeatedly encouraged to provide music for Danish-language Singspiele.