Credits:

Elsner, Jozef (1769-1854)

Description:

Josef Elsener (Elsner) was a Polish composer and founder of the Warsaw Conservatory. After working as a violinist and then as music director of the Ruwów Theater, he served as conductor at the Warsaw National Theater from 1799 to 1824, where he composed 38 operas in Polish and premiered them under his own direction. He was also Chopin's teacher during his Warsaw years, and is widely known to have taught him music theory and composition. As a composer, in addition to his operas, he wrote eight symphonies, masses, oratorios, and numerous chamber music works. Included in this album are three string quartets, recorded for the first time in the world. These works, which are said to have been introduced to Poland by the Habsburgs, are his first works to incorporate the string quartet form established by Haydn and popular at the end of the 1780s into traditional Polish music, and are valuable recordings that provide a glimpse into the Polish musical culture at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. This is a valuable recording that gives us a glimpse into the musical culture of Poland at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries. Naxos Japan