On Sat 9th March 1737

Birth of Josef Mysliveček, Czech composer

Josef Mysliveček, March 9, 1737 – February 4, 1781 was a Czech composer in the Galant tradition. He was born in Prague, one of twins who were sons of a prosperous mill owner, and studied philosophy at the university there before following in the footsteps of his father. The enthusiastic reception in Prague of a series of six symphonies in 1762 encouraged him to give up his studies in favour of music; with a bursary from count Vincent von Waldstein he went to Venice in the following year to study with Giovanni Pescetti. He eventually settled in Italy, where he became known as Il divino Boemo ("the divine Bohemian").

His first opera was performed at Bergamo around 1765. His Il Bellerofonte was a great success in Naples,[1] and led to a number of commissions from Italian theatres. In 1770 he met the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Bologna, where Mysliveček was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica. "He exudes fire, spirit and life", wrote Mozart in a letter home. Similarities in his musical style with the early galant works of Mozart have often been noted.

Mysliveček's fame spread outside Italy: a number of his works were performed in Munich in the 1770s. For the court of Portugal his operas were carefully copied out in longhand, for performances and the collection at the Ajuda library, where eighteen scores are preserved today, the largest collection anywhere. His final operas were unsuccessful, however. He died, impoverished, in Rome; shortly before his death he had his nose removed because of caries which he got after infection from the coach accident. He never had any venereal disease. In all, he wrote over twenty opera serie, including Idomeneo (on the same subject which Mozart later treated), Abramo et Isacco, and the aforementioned Il Bellerofonte. Among his other pieces were oratorios, symphonies, concertos, and chamber music, including some of the earliest known string quintets. He is often described as the father of Czech opera. Certainly he was the first of his compatriots to become a famous operatic composer; but his operatic idiom had no Czech characteristics, and was very much that of the Italianate opera seria.