Musical Snapshots

If you tuned in from Australia, then you definitely did not listen to it in the month of May. J. H. Roman came from parents of German and Finnish origins, at least by recent reckonings; his last name could have derived from the Finnish area Raumo. His musical beginnings involved the oboe and violin, likely among additional instruments, and membership in his teen years of the royal chapel. Before t...

or’at’or’i’o n. (or-uh-tor-ee-oh) a long, dramatic musical composition, usually on a religious theme, consisting of arias, recitatives, duets, trios, choruses, etc. sung to orchestral accompaniment flor’in n. (flor-in) an English silver coin equal to two shillings; any of various gold or silver European coins      Johann Melchior Molter (1696–1765), German composer of more than 140 symphonies, was...

Christoph Förster (1693–1745), not to be confused with Austrian composer Emanuel Förster, was born with one toe in the 1600’s. His musical studies began with an organist by the name of Pitzler, then after leaving his birth [town] of Bibra he studied under Heinichen in Weissenfels, learning the thoroughbass and composition. In time, Förster would learn Italian, the foremost language for secular voc...