Stepan: Harp Concertos

Biebaut, Hubert; Houque, Laurent; Talitman, Rachel; Ackermann, Sophie; Burghoff, Johannes

Josef Antonín Štepán (1726 – 1797) was an important Bohemian classical era composer and an important figure in the musical life of eighteenth century in Vienna. Steffan was born in Kopidlno, Bohemia in March 1726, the son of a schoolmaster and church organist. When the Prussian army invaded Bohemia in 1741, he fled to Vienna, where he found a patron in Count Frantisek Jindrich Slik, lord of the Kopidlno estate; received instruction in violin from Hammel, his patron’s Kapellmeister, whom he later succeeded, and in harpsichord and composition from G.C. Wagenseil, the court composer. The original harp concertos in this album which he dedicated to his harpsichord student and harpist Marie Antoinette who later became the Queen of France. They are plenty of charm and accessible while surprising at times.

Price: $25.98