GIUSEPPE FERLENDIS (1755-1810)

Biography

 

Ferlendis, Joseph. - According to G. Donati Petteni surname originally it was Berlendis. He was born in Bergamo in 1755, probably the son of a musician that you do not have other news. Virtuoso Oboe and English horn, you have not to date news concerning his musical education, and few are also biographical data, particularly those inherent in the early period. Certainly the young F. still managed to gain a reputation as a musician, attested by the concerts held in theaters and the city of some importance. We know with certainty that with his brother (this is, perhaps, a Antonio flute and English horn) player he performed a concert for mandolin, flute and oboe at the Carignano theater in Turin on May 31, 1776. The success is not to be missed They saw that they were called for another gig three years later (23 July 1779).

 

Subsequently, the F. was in Florence for a concert that saw both performer of music for oboe and for English horn. On that occasion he received great success and a lot of success especially as a performer of the latter instrument, so that the concert was repeated a few days later (Barblan, p. 269).

 

On 1 April In 1777 he was appointed archbishop of Salzburg Girolamo Colloredo oboist of the musical chapel, with the salary of 540 florins (Mozart then it only felt 500). During his time in Salzburg on F. she captured Mozart's estimated that for him then he composed a concerto for oboe and orchestra unfortunately been lost.

 

Some scholars such as L. Koechel and B. Paumgartner, believe that the concert was later transcribed by Mozart that would turn him into a flute concerto (K 314). The father Leopold, Mozart sent word (letter of 14 Febr. 1778; see. Bauer-Deutsch) that the flutist H. de Jean had commissioned two concertos and three quartets; according to the scholars mentioned above, the musician would have at some point found himself in trouble for the delivery time, and showy cornered, would appeal to the concert composed for Ferlendis. This would, therefore, he was transported from C major to major, and of course also modified in some parts to be adapted to the new instrument.

 

During his time in Salzburg on F. also devoted himself to the improvement of the English horn, the instrument to which he turned his interest even before arriving in this city, and that he had also allowed to collect a good success in the aforementioned concert held in Florence. We do not know if the training concerned the invoice or the instrumental technique. What is certain is that besides having shone as a virtuoso oboe, F. succeeded equally well in this instrument, little known at the time. Subsequently the English horn will grip even on the Venetian public during the execution of Demofoonte A. Meadows, represented in the carnival in 1787 at Teatro S. Benedetto. Michael Haydn was an admirer of his qualities as a virtuoso of the English horn, so that for him in 1785 he composed a quartet in which this tool is entrusted with the main part (Saint-Foix). According to the Saint-Foix F. would be the inspiration for a Mozart composition, Adagioin do for English horn, two violins and cello KV suppl. 94.

 

restless temperament, F. always preferred a wandering life rather than the peace of mind of a fixed place: less than a year after his arrival in Salzburg, the Archbishop asked permission to go to Vienna to earn something more, as believed his salary is not enough to survive (letter written by Leopold Mozàrt to his son on 1 November 1777; see. Bauer-Deutsch). This request, risky for the musical environment of Salzburg, was not accepted view of the severity of the court in granting these permits. In that same period he was, among other things, also the victim of a serious hunting accident that forced him to immobility for different time.

 

In late June of 1778 he resigned from his post at the Salzburg court, on the grounds that the local air was not suitable to the health of his wife. The surprise decision very Leopold Mozart (letter written to his son Wolfgang A. 3 ag. 1778) who noticed the favor of which the F. enjoyed at court, especially at the archbishop who would give him a special reward each time he performed as a soloist. S. Martinotti, however, is of the opinion that the cause of the sudden departure was the antagonism that would be born with the famous and talented oboist Carlo Besozzi, which, passing through this city had great success with two of his concerts and from which It looks the same F. had learned a lot.

 

The F. then left for Brescia, and then to Venice, where from 1780 to 1781 he was first oboe of the orchestra of the theater S. Samuel and later (1787) the Teatro S. Benedetto. Perhaps the invitation of bassist D. Dragonetti went to London in 1793; Here, on 4 May 1795, he participated in the concert organized in honor of F. J. Haydn that in that permanently left England. The F., that on that occasion he played a concert of his own compositions, he failed to make an impression on Haydn This was perhaps to be adduced at the age and the wear and tear caused by the wandering life and eventful that the musician was conducting various years.

 

In 1802 he settled, along with his son Alessandro, in Lisbon, the city where he died probably in the same year:

 

Del F. remain only two concertos for oboe, Op. 13 and Op. 14, published in Paris after his death, and who are currently in the Library of the Milan Conservatory. For another, the attribution of the first concert (OP. 13) to which is contested by G. F. de SaintFoix (Mozart ou F. ...) who wanted to see in this composition of Mozart's hand. The opinion of Saint-Foix was isolated, all other scholars have, in fact, agree in concert discussion at F. (Barblan).

 

F.'s brother, Antonio, was recorder virtuoso as well as oboe and English horn. He probably refers Cordero di Pamparato when it reports the news of a concert for mandolin, flute and oboe, held May 31, 1776 at the Carignano theater in Turin, where he would perform with his brother and some Zaniboni. The same student also learns a second concert performed in the same theater July 23, 1779 in which we find again among the interpreters, the two brothers.

 

It also seems that Antonio in 1810 he was appointed principal oboe and English horn in the orchestra of the Teatro Nuovo of Trieste. Six years later (1816) he would retire in Venice, and it is from this moment that he completely lost track.

 

Even the children of the F., Angelo and Alexander, were musicians. Angelo, probably born in Brescia in 1781, was an oboist known and appreciated especially among some German courts. After traveling through Germany settled in Petersburg in 1801. Alexander, born in Venice in 1783, he too, like his father, was oboe and English horn. He had like first teacher his father, who follow in Lisbon in 1802; Here he married the Italian singer Camilla Barberi, most likely right in 1802. Between 1802 and 1805 he was active as a concert in Madrid and in Italy; in the 805 performed with some success at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. France certainly reserved for more support as a virtuoso on the English horn. Around 1807 he made a trip to Holland, but for which we ignore the various stages. Then he was again in Paris, which he left in 1810 to return to Italy. Do not they know the place and date of his death.

 

Alexander's wife, Camilla Barberi, was born in Rome in 1778 by architect father. He studied singing with some Moscheri, and had also also lessons from G. Crescentini in the period when he stayed in Lisbon. It said of her that was a contralto with much sound and flexible voice. He made his debut in Lisbon; in 1803 she sang in Madrid, in 1804 he was in Milan; the following year he participated in Paris at Capricciosa regretted V. Fioravanti, who was represented at the Empress Theater, Théâtre Louvouis. According to the Fétis the part she played in this work was the congenial, but also the only one where shone.

 

Along with Angelica Catalani, she participates in London and work Orazi Curiazi D. Cimarosa. Lord Mount-Edgcumbe (Grove's Dictionary, 1954, III, p. 64) the defini a beautiful and talented actress who was less popular than they actually deserve, and which also possessed an excellent contralto voice, and precisely contralto funny. He was also convinced that the part of Horatia she sung was certainly worthy of mention, but this did not happen because on that occasion he had to stand comparison with Grassini and Catalani. More information about his career does not have; certainly we know that in 1810 she followed her husband in Italy.