View source for Georg Benda

{{Short description|Czech composer (1722–1795)}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2014}}
[[File:Georg Anton Benda 1751.jpg|thumb|Benda, ca. 1752]]
'''Georg Anton Benda''' ({{langx|cs|Jiří Antonín Benda|italic=no|link=no}}; 30 June 1722{{snd}}6 November 1795) was a [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemian]] composer, violinist and ''[[Kapellmeister]]'' of the [[Classical period (music)|classical period]].

==Biography==
[[File:Benda birth house.jpg|thumb|Benda family house in [[Benátky nad Jizerou]], built 1706/07, demolished 1936]]
Born into a [[Benda family|family of notable musicians]] in Old Benatek (today [[Benátky nad Jizerou]]), [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]], he studied at the [[Piarists|Piarist]] [[Gymnasium (school)|Gymnasium]] (grammar school) in [[Kosmonosy|Kosmanos]] and at the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] Gymnasium in [[Jičín|Gitschin]] from 1735 to 1742.<ref>{{cite book|last=Vysloužil |first=Jiří|title=Hudební slovník pro každého II|trans-title=Music Dictionary for Everyone II|place=Vizovice |publisher=Lípa |year=2001 |isbn=80-86093-23-9| language=cs|page=33}}</ref> Benda was 19 when [[Frederick the Great]] bestowed upon him in 1741 the position of second violinist in the chapel of [[Berlin]]. The following year Benda was summoned to [[Potsdam]] as a composer and [[Arrangement|arranger]] for his older brother [[Franz Benda|Franz]], himself an illustrious composer and violinist.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.hoasm.org/XID/BendaG.html| title=Georg Anton (Jiří Antonín) Benda |website=hoasm.org}}</ref> Seven years later, in 1749, he entered the service of the [[Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg|Duke of Gotha]] as ''[[Kapellmeister]],'' where he constantly cultivated his talents for [[Musical composition|composition]], specializing in religious music.

A [[stipend]] from the duke allowed Benda to take a study trip to Italy in 1764. He returned to [[Gotha]] in 1766, and devoted himself to composition. In all, he wrote about ten [[opera]]s, several [[operetta]]s, and the [[melodrama]]s ''{{Lang|de|[[Ariadne auf Naxos (Benda)|Ariadne auf Naxos]]}}'', ''[[Medea (Benda)|Medea]]'' and ''{{Lang|de|Almansor und Nadine}}''. In 1778 he resigned his position and visited Hamburg, Vienna and other cities, and finally settled at the little hamlet of [[Bad Köstritz|Köstritz]].<ref>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Benda, Georg|year=1905}}</ref>

{{Listen|type=music|filename=Jiří Antonín Benda - Sonatina a minor.ogg|title=Sonatina in A minor for Piano}}
Benda's most important contribution lies in the development of the German melodramas, a form of musical stage entertainment which influenced [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]. In 1774, the Swiss-born director [[Abel Seyler]]'s [[Seyler Theatre Company|theatrical company]] arrived in Gotha, and Seyler commissioned Benda to write several successful melodramas, including ''Ariadne auf Naxos'', ''Medea'' and ''Pygmalion''. ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' is generally considered his best work. At its debut in 1775, the opera received enthusiastic reviews in Germany and afterwards, in the whole of Europe, with music critics calling attention to its originality, sweetness, and ingenious execution. Besides that he wrote many instrumental pieces including many sinfonias, keyboard sonatas, keyboard concertos, violin concertos and a smaller number of trio sonatas, violin sonatas and flute sonatas.

Benda also wrote music for [[Freemasonry|masonic]] rituals.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hill|first=Cecil|year=1980|chapter=Masonic music|title=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]|editor=[[Stanley Sadie]]|volume=11|place=London|publisher=Macmillan|pages=753–756}}</ref>

Benda died in Köstritz, [[Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg]], at the age of 73, leaving his son, Friedrich Ludwig Benda (1752–1796), who briefly carried on the family musical tradition, serving as a music director in Hamburg and later at [[Ludwigslust Castle]] in [[Mecklenburg]],<ref>Landeshauptarchiv Schwerin : (Personal file) 2.26-1 Grand Ducal Cabinet, Court Chapel, No. 6956 (1783), No. 631 (1785) and No. 12635 (1788)</ref> before finally becoming the [[concertmaster]] in [[Königsberg]]. He died less than a year after his father.

Benda's Harpsichord Concerto in C was featured in [[Apple Computer]]'s 1987 [[Knowledge Navigator]] concept video.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGYFEI6uLy0 Apple's 1987 Knowledge Navigator Video]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqZioB7iaGY Jiří Antonín Benda - Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings in C major - Mezzo alegro]</ref>

==Operas and Melodramas==
*''{{Lang|it|Xindo riconosciuto}}'' ([[libretto]] by Giovanni Andrea Galletti, [[opera seria]], 1765, [[Gotha]])
*''{{Lang|it|Il buon marito}}'' (libretto by Galletti, [[Intermezzo]], 1766, Gotha)
*''{{Lang|it|Il nuove maestro di capella}}'' (Intermezzo, 1766, Gotha)
*''{{Lang|de|[[Ariadne auf Naxos (Benda)|Ariadne auf Naxos]]}}'' (libretto by {{Interlanguage link|Johann Christian Brandes|de}}, [[melodrama]], 1775, Gotha)
*''{{Lang|de|Der Jahrmarkt}}'' (''{{Lang|de|Der Dorfjahrmarkt/Lukas und Bärbchen}}'') (libretto by [[Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter]], [[Singspiel]], 1775, Gotha)
*''[[Medea (Benda)|Medea]]'' (libretto by Gotter, melodrama, 1775, Leipzig)
*''Walder'' (libretto by Gotter, Singspiel, 1776, Gotha)
*''{{Lang|de|[[Romeo und Julie]]}}'' (libretto by Gotter, Singspiel, 1776, Gotha)
*''{{Lang|de|Der Holzhauer oder Die drey Wünsche}}'' (libretto by Gotter, Singspiel, 1778, Gotha)
*''[[Pygmalion (Benda)|Pygmalion]]'' (libretto by Gotter, melodrama, 1779, Vienna)
*''{{Lang|de|Philon und Theone}}'', revised as ''Almansor und Nadine'' (1791), (unknown librettist, melodrama, 1779, Vienna)<ref>Glatthorn, Austin (2020). "Introduction" in Georg Anton Benda, ''Philon und Theone'', ed. Austin Glatthorn, Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era, 115. Middleton, WI: A-R Editions [[doi:10.31022/C115]].</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Glatthorn |first=Austin |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/music-theatre-and-the-holy-roman-empire/1A96D7ADECB39287E060B925B85F7FA7 |title=Music Theatre and the Holy Roman Empire: The German Musical Stage at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century |date=2022 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-51249-4 |location=Cambridge |pages=170–217 |doi=10.1017/9781009067485}}</ref>
*''{{Lang|de|Das tartarische Gesetz}}'' (libretto by Gotter, Singspiel, 1787, [[Mannheim]])


==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie|2|314|318|Benda|[[Arrey von Dommer]]|ADB:Benda|ref=none}}
*[http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/43903pg4 "4. Georg (Anton) {{Bracket|Jiří Antonín}} Benda"] by John D. Drake, Thomas Bauman, Zdeňka Pilková, chapter 4 of "Benda family" in ''[[Grove Music Online]]'' {{doi|10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.43903}} {{Subscription required}}
*[http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O005956pg1 "1. Georg (Anton) {{Bracket|Jiří Antonín}} Benda"] by Thomas Bauman, chapter 1 of "Benda family (opera)" in ''Grove Music Online'' {{doi|10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O005956}} {{Subscription required}}
*{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Benda, Georg|year=1920 |short=x}}

==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Benda}}
*{{Commons category-inline|Georg Benda}}
*{{IMSLP|id=Benda, Georg|cname=Georg Benda}}
*[https://www.italianopera.org/compositori/B/c217152.htm List of operas], italianopera.org

{{Georg Benda}}
{{Classical period (music)}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Classical music}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Benda, Georg}}
[[Category:1722 births]]
[[Category:1795 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century classical composers from Bohemia]]
[[Category:18th-century German composers]]
[[Category:18th-century male musicians]]
[[Category:Composers of masonic music]]
[[Category:Classical-period composers from Bohemia]]
[[Category:Czech opera composers]]
[[Category:German male classical composers]]
[[Category:German opera composers]]
[[Category:Czech male opera composers]]
[[Category:People from Benátky nad Jizerou]]
[[Category:Seyler theatrical company]]