Johann Heinrich Schmeltzer
1623 - 1680
Schmelzer owed his progression in life as a musician to the patronage of the Imperial Court in Vienna. He studied music in Vienna and became highly regarded as a cornett player, a violinist and latterly as a composer.
He was in change of the music for the coronation of the Emperor Leopold I in 1659. He must have made a reasonable stab at it as Leopold made my vice Kapellmeister to his court and eventually Kapellmeister in 1679.
He was not destined to enjoy this ultimate promotion as the plague carried him off a year later.
Schmeltzer was a prolific composer of dance music and opera among other things. But it is for his instrumental pieces that he is best known. This beautifully understated and stately trio is a fine example:
I don’t seem to be as enthusiastic as the rest of you. To me it was slightly ding-ding chamber music for a wet Viennese Sunday afternoon! Pleasant but I wouldn’t add it to my playlist.
Very good, helped me to fill in my passport application form 👍