Stamitz, Karl 05/07/1745 - 11/09/1801

Karl Philip Stamitz may be the most famous composer of those known as the second-generation 'Mannheim School'. His father, Johann Stamitz, gave him his first musical education; a fine start, for Johann Stamitz was the royal Director of Instrumental Music, and led the Mannheim Orchestra, largely considered the best in the world at the time. When K. Stamitz`s father died, he received further instruction in music from such composers as Christian Cannabich, Ignaz Holzbauer, and Franz Xaver Richter. In records of the Mannheim orchestra from 1762-1770, Stamitz is registered as a second violinist. While in the Mannheim orchestra, he worked on perfecting his musical technique, both in performance and in composition.

In 1770, Stamitz traveled to Paris, and in 1771 was appointed the court composer for Duke Louis of Noailles. While in Paris, Stamitz was also able to encounter such composers as François Gossec, Leduc, Beer, and Sieber, the latter of whom published some of Stamitz`s newest compositions. Together with his brother Anton, Karl performed repeatedly at the Concert Spirituel, and in 1772 actually lived at Versailles. While there, he composed the first of a series of programme symphonies: La promenade royale. He then undertook some performance travels, ending up in Vienna late in 1772. 1773 found Stamitz in Frankfurt, in 1774 he went to Augsburg, Vienna again, and Strassburg. It was in Strassburg that his six Opus 14 string quartets were published.

Stamitz was once more in Paris, but he left in a cloud of historical mystery. Some believe that he lived in London for a time, perhaps from 1777 through 1779. What is certain, however, is that after leaving Paris, Stamitz would never again regain his position of fame and popularity. Many of his compositions were published in Paris, where he billed himself as the 'Composer to the Duke of Noailles'. After 1779, Stamitz moved to The Hague, where he was a viola soloist in more than 27 concerts at the court of William V of Orange. On 23 November, 1783, he performed at one such concert, in which the pianist was Ludwig van Beethoven, aged 12.

Over a period of several years, Stamitz travelled a great deal, appearing at many cities, such as Leipzig and Hamburg. He was the conductor of a performance of Händel`s Messiah in Berlin at the cathedral, in 1786. In 1787, he was in Nuremburg to direct the performance of his music for Blanchard`s balloon ascent.

Stamitz`s final years were marked by much travel, distributions of his compositions, and requests for stable employment, including petitions sent to Wales and Russia. For a time in the middle of the 1790s, he was Kapellmeister and music teacher at the University of Mannheim, but he did not make enough money to support his family. His wife Maria Josepha (née Pilz), to whom he had been married for ten years, died sometime in January of 1801. Stamitz himself did not wait long to follow her: he died in November of that same year, just before his invited trip to St. Petersburg. Stamitz`s performing abilities, compositional genius, fame, nor his somewhat interesting excursions into alchemy were able to save him financially, and so upon his death, his debt was so great that everything he owned was auctioned. A printed catalogue of his music was created in 1810 and apparently sold at auction, but it has been lost.