Franz Xaver Richter was a figurehead in the so-called "Mannheim school," a group of composers who worked in the court of Mannheim. Richter joined the court orchestra, lead by Johann Stamitz, as a violinist in 1747, but his main duties in Mannheim were as a composer of music for the cathedral and as singer. Richter's association with the Mannheim orchestra and his correspondingly high output in terms of symphonies and chamber music have led to the view that Richter was merely another dealer in the Mannheim brand of sausage, ...
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Franz Xaver Richter was a figurehead in the so-called "Mannheim school," a group of composers who worked in the court of Mannheim. Richter joined the court orchestra, lead by Johann Stamitz, as a violinist in 1747, but his main duties in Mannheim were as a composer of music for the cathedral and as singer. Richter's association with the Mannheim orchestra and his correspondingly high output in terms of symphonies and chamber music have led to the view that Richter was merely another dealer in the Mannheim brand of sausage, cranking out facile, pretty, and faceless confections in the manner of his contemporaries. If anything is likely to change that view, it should be Aapo Häkkinen and the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra's superb Naxos disc Franz Xaver Richter: Six Grandes Symphonies (1744). Richter left Mannheim in 1769 largely owing to his disgust with the local style; these works were composed and published even before Richter arrived there, and firmly establishes Richter as a major mover behind the...
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