Gassmann, Florian Leopold
- George R. Hill
- and Joshua Kosman
Extract
(b Brüx [now Most], May 3, 1729; d Vienna, Jan 20, 1774). Bohemian composer. He may have been educated at the Jesuit Gymnasium in Komotau (now Chomutov). The most reliable biographical sources name the regens chori at Brüx, Johann Woborschil (or Jan Vobořil), as his teacher in singing, the violin and the harp. Against his father’s wish he decided to make music his profession and left home as a boy, making his way to Italy where he may have studied with Padre Martini. No details of his service under Count Leonardo Veneri in Venice are known. The first datable musical event of Gassmann’s life was the production of his opera Merope at the Teatro S Moisè, Venice, in Carnival 1757. His operatic success in Italy led to his being called to Vienna as ballet composer and successor to Gluck (1763). During the year of mourning on the death of Franz I (...
