Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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678 STEFFAiTI STEFFANI
the young ' Churfiirstlicher Kammer- nnd Hofmusikus'
had been already apprenticed to
Johann ICaspar Kerl to learn to play (schlagm)
the organ, and to be boarded, for the yearly
sum of 432 florins. A further entry of the payoffice
shows that the yearly cost of the Hof- und
KammermusikuB was, for 1669, 903 fl. 12 kr. ;
for 1670, 997 fl. He remained with Kerl till
Oeti 1, 1671, from which day he was boarded
and lodged by the Churfiirstlicher Kammerdiener
Seyler for 156 fl. a year. As Hofmusikus,
Steffani received 300 fl., in addition to a clothing
allowance of 300 fl. a year, by a decree of Jan.
16, 1672. At the commencement of Oct. 1673
be travelled to Rome in order to perfeotiimself
in his art. Here he began to compose assiduously,
for there is a small oblong volume of
motets in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge,
an original MS., of which there seems no reason
to doubt the authenticity. In it we find the
following compositions, all dated except one.
To speak of them chronologically : the first,
dated Nov. 1678, is a 'Laudate Pueri' a 9.
The next, dated Deo. 30, 1673, is a splendid
'
Laudate Dominum ' for 8 cauti concertati,
divided into two choirs. Again in 1673, with
no month given, We have a Tribuamus Domino
'
—one short movement for two choirs of S. S. A. T.
In the following year we have a Sperate in Deo
'
for S.S.A.T.B. in three fine movements, the
last a fugue. The remaining piece, not dated,
is a 'Beatus vir' for S.S.B., with two violins
and a bass.
In Borne he appears to have had a long illness,
as he received 50 crowns extra for expenses
incurred while laid up. Bernabei succeeded
Kerl as Capellmeister at Munich in that year.
After his return Stefiani again took up his position
as Kammermusikus with a pay of 770 fl.
20 kr., and almost immediately published his
first work, Psalmodia vespertina vOlans 8
'
plenis vocibus concinenda ab Augost. Steffana
in lueem edita aetatis suae anno 19, ^ Monachii,
1674.' This work was a brilliant success for
the young composer, and a portion of it was
thought worthy of being included by Padre
Martini in his Saggio di OontrappvMo, published
just a hundred years later. On March 1, 1675,
he was appointed court organist.
But music was not the only study which had
occupied his mind ; he had studied mathematics,
philosophy, and theology with so much success
that in 1680 he was ordained a priest with the
title of Abbate of Lepsing ; and such was the
favour shown to him by the new Elector, his old
Mend Ferdinand Maria having died the year
before, that a decree of Nov. 3, 1680, accords
to the ' Honourable priest. Court and Chamber
musician, and Organist Steffani,' a present of
1200 florins for ' certain reasons and favours
(gewissen TJrsaohen und Gnaden). Hitherto he
1 [On this erroneoiifl statement of age nee the QueUen-LexiJam.
It is from the aame dedications that we know him to have learnt
from Bemahei.]
had confined himself to the eoraposition of
motets and other church music, but now appeared
his first work for the stage. The title,
taken from the contemporary MS., evidently
the conducting score, in the Royal Musical
Library at Buckingham Palace, in an Italian
hand, probably that of his secretary and copyist
Gregorio Piva, runs thus:— 'Marco AureUo,
Dramma posto in Musica da D. Agostino Steffani,
Direttor della Musica di Camera di S. A. S.
etc. di Baviera, I'anno 1681.' It will be seen
that a further step had been gained—he was
now Director of Chamber-music. In 1683 appeared
some Senate da Camera for two violins,
alto, and bass, and in 1685 a collection of
motets entitled 'Sacer Janus Quadrifrons 3
voo. MonachS, ' but no trace of these works is
to be found. For the Carnival of 1685 he composed
the opera Solone, ' ' which appears to have
been an opera buff'a in three acts ; the score,
however, like all the Munich operas by Steflani
with the exception of 'Marco Aurelio,' is
lost. He also composed in this year a musical
introduction for a tournament, with the
title :
Maximilian Emanuel was married at the end
of 1685 to the Archduchess Maria Antonia,
daughter of Leopold I., and the wedding festivities
in Munich in the first days of January
1686 began with the opera 'Servio Tullio,'
again by Steffani, with ballets arranged by
Rodier, and music to them by Dardespin, the
Munich Concertmeister, danced by twelve ladies
and gentlemen of the court, with costumes from
'
Audacia e Rispetto. ' The new Elector
Paris. The music made its mark, as we shall
see hereafter. On Jan. 18, 1687, the birthday
of the you/g Eleotress, we have an opera—the
text of which was by the new Italian secretary
Luigi Orlandi, whose wife sang on the stage
called Alarico ' il Balta, cioe 1' audace, ik dei
Gothi,' with ballets composed, arranged, and
danced as before. For this opera fresh Italian
singers were brought from Italy. Of the value
of Steffani's music to it no record is given. In
1688 he composed the opera 'Niobe, regina di
Tebe, ' probably for the Carmval, the text again
by Orlandi. This was his last work for the
Court of Munich.
Various reasons have been put forward to account
for his leaving a court where he had been
so well treated, and where the art of music was
held in such esteem, for Munich had not only at
this time good singers, a good orchestra, and
experienced and intelligent audiences, but had
likewise a splendid musical history. The Elector
had granted hiin 750 florins on account of his
two operas and for a Badekur ' in Italy in June
1686. In May 1688 gracious permission was
given to him to go again to Italy, in consideration
of his twenty-one years' service ; his salary
was not only paid to the end of June, but from
the beginning of July he was given three years'
salary as a reward ! Not only so, but his debts