František Kočvara (1730-1791) - Sonata pour Alto Viola

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Composer: František Kočvara (1730-1791)
Work: Sonata (II, Do majeur) pour Alto Viola des 'Quatre sonates [G, C, G, C] pour alto viola avec accompagnement de basse ... œuvre 2'
Performers: Regina Shtеynman (viola); Elena Kеylina-Rеuthеr (organ)

Sonata pour Alto Viola
1. Moderato 0:00
2. Adagio 7:21
3. Rondo 14:50

Painting: Giovanni Antonio Canal 'Canaletto' (1697-1768) - London from near the terrace of Somerset House
HD image: https://flic.kr/p/2r4vkqU
Painting: English School (18th Century) - Portrait of Frantisek Kocvara
HD image: https://flic.kr/p/2r4vkpg

Further info: https://rism.online/sources/990033925
Listen free: https://open.spotify.com/album/4Nwiraj8BFNGY6nny1wozZ

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František (Franz, Francis) Kočvara [Kocžwara, Kotzwara]
(Prague, 1730 - London, 2 September 1791)

Bohemian contrabassist and composer. Little is known about his early life or education. He first appeared in 1775 in London, where he had arrived as an itinerant musician and where he published collections of trio sonatas and string quartets. There he became involved in the cultural life of the city, performing and publishing his music, mainly sonatas. In the late 1780s he was in Ireland. Back in London he took part in the Concert of Ancient Music and in the Handel Commemoration of May 1791. At the time of his death he played the double bass at the King’s Theatre. François-Joseph Fétis claimed to have met and performed for Kočvara while a child in his father’s house in Mons, though his dating of the event (1792) is mistaken. According to Fétis, Kočvara played not only the viola and double bass, but also the piano, violin, cello, oboe, flute, bassoon and cittern. Kočvara gained special notoriety by the manner of his death, with which most early accounts of him are primarily concerned. He was reputed to have had unusual vices, and was accidentally hanged while conducting an 'experiment' in a house of ill repute. Susan Hill, his accomplice in the 'experiment', was tried for murder at the Old Bailey on 16 September 1791 and was acquitted. As a composer, his most famous composition, 'The Battle for Prague', appears to have been written in commemoration of an event from 1758. His surviving works include three serenades, a symphony, 26 sonatas, 12 trio sonatas, six quartets, and several songs. His music is imitative of major European composers of the period, principally Joseph Haydn.