Leonhard von Call

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Leonhard von Call (19 March 1767 19 February 1815), sometimes

referred to as "Leonhard de Call", was an Austrian composer and virtuoso
on the mandolin and guitar.[1][2][3] During his lifetime he focused less on
performing and more upon teaching and writing music for others to play.[1]
A virtuoso, he wrote not for other virtuosos but for the people he was
teaching or amateurs, and today it is felt by some musicians that his works
"made no great technical demands".[3][4]

Contents
1 Life
1.1 Career in music
2 Works and their merits
2.1 Guitar method Leonhard von Call
2.2 Other publications
3 Another list
4 References
5 External links

Life
He was born in Eppan an der Weinstrae, South Tyrol.[3][5] Although his village is in northern Italy today, it
was part of the Tyrol in the Holy Roman Empire when he was growing up. Following World War I the area
became part of Italy in 1919.

After participating in the War of the First Coalition, which ran 1792 to 1797, he was awarded the Order Pour le
Mrite, and became a civil servant at the Imperial Kammerzahlamt (Imperial Chamber Payments Office).[2]

At age 40, he married Maria Wilhelmina Brabee, who was 18 years his junior.[2][5] They had five children.[2][5]
He died in Vienna.

In 2006, the music school in his hometown was named after him.

Career in music

Von Call had grown up studying music, practicing with mandolin, guitar and flute, and in 1801, he commenced
a professional career in Vienna teaching mandolin and guitar.[1] He wrote for these instruments during this
time, and Germans appreciated the flowing melodies combined with simple execution.[1] The success of these
works led him to keep writing, mainly for mandolin, violin, flute and guitar, but he also wrote vocal
compositions.[1] Several of those were successful as well.[1] His vocal works were given credit by music
historian Philip J. Bone as contributing to the formation of Mnner gesangvereine (male singing societies) in
the early years of the 19th century.[1] He continued to write, and amounted at least twenty collections of vocal
compositions in the catalogs of the publishers.[1] He seldom appeared as performer, but continued teaching,
until his death in Vienna in 1815.[1]

Works and their merits

He began composing in 1796, and prints of his works were published continuously from 1802 until his death in
1815.[5] Announcements and reviews of his work appeared in the Leipziger Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, a
prominent musical periodical.[5] Many of his works were commissioned by members of the bourgeoisie and the
gentry.[5]

Guitar method

Call was the author of a Method for the Guitar, which obtained success in its day and passed through several
editions.[1]

Other publications

Philip J. Bone labelled the following as "the principal instrumental publications of this writer":[1]

Opp. 8, 16, 25 and 111, Variations for mandolin or violin and guitar, published by Haslinger, Vienna
Op. 108, Grand sonata concertante in C for mandolin and guitar
Opp. 3, 9, 118, 121 and 130, quartets or quintets for guitar, violin, alto and 'cello

Von Call also published trios for guitar with flute, violin or alto.[1] In his duos for violin and guitar, von Call
was very successful, and he published more than thirty of these for violin or cello with guitar and also more
than twenty guitar duos and a similar number of duos for guitar and piano.[1]

Bone felt that the best of the latter duos are:[1]

Sonata op. 74
Serenades opp. 76, 116, 105 and 143, and the Easy trio in C for three guitars op. 26

Many of von Call's vocal compositions were written with guitar accompaniment:[1]

Opp. 113 and 135, being two volumes of songs with guitar
Op. 136 a Terzett for soprano, tenor and bass with accompaniment of flute and guitar and another for the
same voices entitled The Schoolmaster, with guitar accompaniment.

Another list
He composed about 150 works, mainly for violin, flute and guitar.

His known work consists of the following:

Chamber music
2 sextets
4 quintets
14 quartets
34 trios
52 duos
12 solos
Vocal works
17 songs with accompaniment
19 songs without accompaniment
Bearbeitungen (transcriptions)

References
1. Philip J. BoneThe Guitar and Mandolin, biographies of celebrated players and composers for these
instruments, London: Schott and Co., 1914. (https://archive.org/details/guitarmandolinbi00bone)
 2. Fachschaft Klassische Guitarre Canti So. "LEONHARD VON CALL Solostcke" (http://www.ksso.ch/gi
ta/literaturak/voncall/index.php). Retrieved 2014-07-10.
3. Naxos, "The World's Leading Classical Music Group". "Leonhard von Call" (http://www.naxos.com/pers
on/Leonhard_von_Call/19148.htm). Retrieved 2014-07-10.
4. EarlyRomanticGuitar.com. "Guitar Composers of the Classical and Early Romantic Period Circa 1780-
1900" (http://www.earlyromanticguitar.com/erg/composers.htm#vonCall). Retrieved 2014-07-10.
5. sixstringsonly.com. "Leonhard von Call" (http://www.sixstringsonly.com/g/c/call.html). Retrieved
2014-07-10.

External links
German language site with lists of his music by type.
Free scores by Leonhard von Call at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leonhard_von_Call&oldid=741552128"

This page was last edited on 28 September 2016, at 06:03.

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