A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Tuma, Franz

TUMA, Franz, distinguished church-composer, and player on the viol da gamba, born Oct. 2, 1704, at Kosteletz in Bohemia, was a pupil of Czernohorsky (Regenschori at Prague, with whom he also fulfilled an engagement as tenor-singer), and of J. J. Fux in Vienna. In 1741 he became Capellmeister to the Dowager Empress Elisabeth, on whose death in 1750 he devoted himself entirely to his muse. In 1760 he retired to the monastery of Geras, but after some years returned to Vienna, where he died, Feb. 4, 1774, in the convent of the Barmherzigen Brüder. Tuma was greatly respected by connoisseurs of music amongst the court and nobility, and received many proofs of esteem from Maria Theresa. His numerous church-compositions, still, unfortunately, in MS., are distinguished by a complete mastery of construction, and a singular appropriateness between the harmony and the words, besides striking the hearer as the emanations of a sincerely devout mind. Especially celebrated are his grand masses in D minor and E minor, which are masterpieces in the line of Bach. As a chorister in the cathedral of Vienna, Haydn had the opportunity of becoming practically acquainted with the works of this solid master.

[ C. F. P. ]