"Amandus Ivanschiz: His Life and Music" by Maciej Jochymczyk

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Dr. Maciej Jochymczyk, instructor at the Musicology Institute of Jagiellonian University (Kraków, Poland), has recently published his second book about composer Amandus Ivanschiz (1727-1758), which follows Muzyka religijna u progu klasycyzmu. Amandus Ivanschiz OSPPE (1727-1758) (Lublin: Wydawnictwo Polihymnia, 2014).

Amandus Ivanschiz: His Life and Music. With a Thematic Catalog of Works (Kraków: Musica Iagellonica, 2016)

This book will certainly attract widespread attention, particularly because there has been little published research about Ivanschiz to date. The book is in two parts and begins with new information about the composer’s life and works, drawing from a broad body of sources. The second part is a comprehensive thematic catalog of works, which includes Ivanschiz’s sacred music and instrumental works.

P. Amandus Ivanschiz OSPPE (1727–1758), a member of the Pauline order, was born in Wiener Neustadt and had family from Burgenland. His music typifies a time in which monastic musical life flourished. Ivanschiz was in monasteries in Ranna, Wiener Neustadt, Rome, and Graz. This part of musical life in the middle of the eighteenth century has not yet been examined thoroughly. This book thus provides an excellent basis for further research into monastic musical life in Europe.

According to new findings uncovered by Jochymczyk, Ivanschiz died in 1758 at the young age of 31 - much earlier than was previously thought. This has consequences for dating his music and assessing his personal musical style and the mid-eighteenth-century style. In spite of his early death, Ivanschiz left behind a rich body of works, including around 50 large sacred works such as masses, oratorios, litanies, vespers, and antiphonies. In addition, over 30 instrumental works are preserved, especially symphonies and string trios. In total, nearly 300 manuscript copies of his works are extant in different libraries and archives in eleven European countries. That shows the broad dissemination and popularity of this music in the eighteenth century. In RISM, 158 music manuscripts are documented and include a reference to Jochymczyk’s new catalog (with the abbreviation JochAI). Many of Ivanschiz’s compositions were reworked by him and copyists, and adapted for new performances. The many variations of his works document the performance practice of the time as well as a versatile idea of a “work.”

This book is the first book that undertakes a critical appraisal of Ivanschiz’s oeuvre on the basis of extant handwritten musical sources. It fills a gap in our knowledge of the pre-classical period and monastic musical life.

Category: New publications