Johann Stamitz - Life

Life

Stamitz spent the academic year 1734–1735 at the University of Prague. After only one year, he left the university to pursue a career as a violin virtuoso. Stamitz' activities during the six-year period between his departure from the university in 1735 and his appointment in Mannheim around 1741 are not precisely known.

Stamitz was appointed by the Mannheim court either in 1741 or 1742. Most likely, his engagement at Mannheim resulted from contacts made during the Bohemian campaign and coronation of Carl Albert (Karl VII), a close ally of the Elector Palatine. In January 1742 Stamitz performed at Mannheim as part of the festivities surrounding the marriage of Karl Theodor, who succeeded his uncle Karl Philipp as Elector Palatine less than a year later; Karl Albert of Bavaria was a guest at the wedding.

Stamitz was married on July 1, 1744 to Maria Antonia Luneborn. They had five children together, Carl Philipp, Maria Francisco, Anton Thadäus Nepomuk, and two children who died in infancy.

Probably around the late summer of 1754, Stamitz took a year-long journey to Paris, perhaps at the invitation of the musical patron Alexandre Le Riche de La Poupelinière, with whom he stayed; Stamitz appeared in public in Paris for the first time at a Concert Spirituel of September 8, 1754. Stamitz' success in Paris induced him to publish his Orchestral Trios, Op. 1, and possibly other publications with various Parisian publishers.

Stamitz probably returned to Mannheim around the autumn of 1755, dying there in spring 1757, less than two years later, at the age of 39. The entry of his death reads: