Recorded at:		-
	Live / Studio		Studio
	Producer		-
	Balance engineer		-
	First LP Edition		BASF | 29 21190-8 | 2 LPs | durata 38' 11" - 40' 51" | (p) 1972
	First CD Edition		PILZ - ACANTA | 44 2157-2 | 2 CDs | durata 38' 11" - 40' 51" | (c) 1993 | ADD
	Note		-

Musik aus Schlössernb & Residenzen (20 CD Collection) Membran | 234355 | (c) 2016 (in CD 17 & 18)

Peter von Winter was born in Mannheim on August 28th, 1754. The son of a brigadier, he was taken into the service of Elector Karl Theodor at the early age of ten to play in the Mannheim court orchestra, and so was fortunate enough to experience in its prime the „Mannheim school“, by then famous throughout Europe. The writer Schubart sang the praises of the Mannheim orchestra: „Its forte is like thunder, its crescendo a cataract, its diminuendo a crystal stream rippling away into the distance, its piano a breath of spring. The wind instruments are all employed the way they should be employed: they elevate and carry or enrich and animate the musical flow of the violins.“ Here Winter received a sound musical training, and by the age of fifteen had learned to play the double-bass, later taking up the violin as his main instrument. When in 1778 the Elector succeeded to the Bavarian throne, most of the Mannheim orchestra, including Winter, moved to Munich the new capital. At Mannheim under the guidance of Abbe Georg Joseph Vogler Winter had already shown himself to be a capable composer. Now in Munich he began to distinguish himself in this field, his ballet music and concertos being most favourably received. The year 1782 saw the first of his numerous operas and Singspiele: „Helena und Paris“. The most successful of these however was „Das unterbrochene Opferfest“, written in 1796. This highly effective „heroic opera“ had its premiere in Vienna and made Winter internationally famous overnight. It was followed by his heroic-comic opera, „Das Labyrinth oder der Kampf mit den Elementen“ („The Labyrinth or The Fight against the Elements“), a sequel to Mozart’s „Magic Flute“ and partly based on it. In 1787 Winter had been appointed deputy-leader of the Munich Court Orchestra and in 1798 he was made principal choral conductor. Up to 1805 he travelled extensively, visiting Naples, Venice, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Petersburg, Moscow, Stockholm and London. Although during this period most of his compositions were in the field of opera, he by no means neglected instrumental music, which was equally dear to his heart. On February 29th, 1804, he conducted the first performance of his Sinfonia Concertante for six solo instruments and orchestra at the Redoutensaal in Munich. From then until 1816 his name frequently appears in the programmes of the winter series of subscription concerts given by the court orchestra. Known after 1811 as the „Musical Academy“, this was an institution that formed an integral part of musical life in Munich and still enjoys a high reputation today. Chamber music compositions too, such as his Septet, published in Paris in 1803, were often performed. Winter’s greatest triumph on the concert platform, however, was his Battle Symphony for five orchestras and choirs, performed on April 18th, 1814, at the Cuvillié Theatre in Munich. On March 23rd, 1814, the court celebrated Winter’s 50 years of service there with a grand anniversary concert consisting of a selection of works he had composed in Munich over four decades. He was awarded the Order of Merit by King Max Joseph of Bavaria, an honour carrying with it a title – he was now known as Ritter Peter von Winter. In the years that followed he devoted himself mainly to the composition of church music and enjoyed high esteem as a teacher of voice and composition. Many distinguished Munich composers owed their training to him. Not all the works in his wide range of compositions are of the same high standard, but many bear witness to his remarkable ingenuity, and his command of both form and media. Some traits in his music seem to anticipate the Romantic Movement, but on the whole the Classical element prevails. What a contemporary said of his operas may also be applied to the rest of his work: „He possesses neither that fire, that brilliant turbulence that flares up in Jomelli from time to time, enthralling the listener within the space of a few bars, nor the temperament of a Paisiello. Rather he appears adept and ordered, clothed more with the classical elegance of a French tragedian than with the trappings of a British tragic actor. His music has always had ready appeal and provided us with pleasent diversion. We can gain some idea of what Winter was like as a person from the letters of Carl Maria von Weber and the memoirs of Ludwig Emil Grimm, the painter, and Ludwig Spohr, the composer all of whom often come into close contact with the all powerful Kapellmeister. Spohr writes of a visit to Munich in 1807: „I was often with Winter, taking a delight in his rather eccentric person, which was remarkably paradoxical. Winter, a man of huge stature, with the strength of a colossus, was nevertheless as timid as a rabbit. Blustering with rage on the slightest provocation, he could, however, be led like a child.“ Bettina von Arnim, a friend of Goethe’s and Beethoven’s, soon discovered this, and when, from 1808 to 1809, before her marriage, she was taking voice lessons from Winter, she played all kinds of practical jokes on her teacher. Peter von Winter died four days after King Max Joseph, on October 17th, 1825. With his death there came to an end a fruitful epoch in the history of music at Munich, an epoch about which there is still much to be discovered. The new king, Ludwig I, was to show less interest in music and more in furthering the plastic and graphic arts. Robert Münster