A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Gassmann, Florian

GASSMANN, Florian Leopold, born May 4, 1723, at Brüx in Bohemia : in 1736 ran away from his father who wished to educate him as a merchant. By playing the harp he worked his way to Bologna, where he studied for two years under Padre Martini. He then entered the service of Count Leonardi Veneri at Venice, and his compositions were soon in general request. In 1762 he was invited to Vienna as a ballet-composer. On the death of Reutter in 1771, the Emperor Joseph II. appointed him Court Capellmeister with a salary of 800 ducats. Very soon after entering on his new office he suggested the formation of the 'Tonkünstler Societät,' a Fund for the Widows and Orphans of Vienna musicians, a society which in 1862 was reorganised under the name of the 'Haydn.' See Pohl's 'Denkschrift,' etc. (Vienna 1871). Gassmann died Jan. 21, 1774, owing to a fall from his carriage. He composed 23 Italian operas, of which two were translated into German, 'L'Amor artigiana' by Neefe, and 'La Contessina' by Hiller. He also composed much church music, which Mozart thought more of than of his operas (Letter, Feb. 5, 1783). When at Leipsic, he said to Doles, who could not quite join in his praises, 'Papa, if you only knew all we have of his in Vienna! As soon as I get back I shall study him in earnest, and hope to learn a great deal.' Gassmann cannot be said to have exercised any special influence on the developement of musical form effected during his time by Emanuel Bach, Haydn, and Mozart. His best pupil was Salieri, who after their father's death educated Gassmann's daughters as opera-singers.

[ F. G. ]