The road to the lesser known, with in today’s episode chamber music by Joseph Martin Kraus
Joseph Martin Kraus was born in 1756 – the same year as Mozart – in the Bavarian town of Miltenberg am Main. In 1778 he left for Stockholm, where he became conductor of King Gustav III’s court orchestra. In 1782 the King sent Kraus on a four-year trip to theatres elsewhere in Europe to find out how European opera houses functioned.
In 1792, there came an end to both King Gustav and Kraus’ life. Gustav was shot on 16 March during a masked ball and died a few weeks later of his wounds (Giuseppe Verdi wrote a beautiful opera about this). For the funeral, Kraus composed a Symphonie funèbre and a funeral cantata. These were to be his last compositions. On 15 December Kraus died of tuberculosis, an illness he had been suffering from since he was a student.
- Joseph Martin Kraus: String Quartet in G, Op. 1 No. 3. Schuppanzigh Quartett
- Joseph Martin Kraus: Piano Sonata in E. Alexandra Oehler, piano
- Joseph Martin Kraus: ‘Zwei neue kuriose Minuetten’. Jacques Després, piano
- Joseph Martin Kraus: Rondo in F. Jacques Després, piano
- Joseph Martin Kraus: Swedish Dance. Jacques Després, piano
