Johann Kaspar Mertz

Johann Kaspar Mertz (August 17, 1806 - October 14, 1856) was an Austrian-based guitarist and composer, born in Pressburg, now Bratislava, Slovakia.

Biography

Mertz was active in Vienna (c.1840~1856), which had been home to various important figures in the guitar world, including Anton Diabelli, Mauro Giuliani, Wenceslaus Matiegka and Simon Franz Molitor. Mertz was a guitar virtuoso who established a solid reputation as a performer. He toured Moravia, Poland, and Russia and gave performances in Berlin and Dresden. In 1846 Mertz nearly died of an overdose of strychnine that had been prescribed to him as a treatment for neuralgia. Over the following year he was nursed back to health in the presence his wife, a concert pianist, Josephine Plantin whom he married in 1842. Some speculation may lead one to the conclusion that listening to his wife performing the Romantic piano pieces of the day during his period of recovery may have had an influence on the sound and unusual right hand technique he adopted for the Bardenklange (Bardic Sounds) Op.13.

Mertz's guitar music, unlike that of most of his contemporaries, followed the pianistic models of Chopin, Mendelssohn,Schubert and Schumann, rather than the classical models of Mozart and Haydn (as did Sor and Aguado), or the bel canto style of Rossini (as did Giuliani).

The Bardenklänge (1847) are probably Mertz's most important contribution to the guitar repertoire—a series of deceptively difficult character pieces in the mould of Schumann.

List of works

• Elegy
  
• 3 Nocturnes op. 4
  
• Bardenklange (Bardic Sounds) Opus.13 Inspired by the Irish Mythical figure. The work is broken into two parts 1-7, consisting of:

An Malvina
Romanze
Abenlied
Unruhe
Elfenreigen
An Die Entfernte
Etude
Capriccio
Gondoliera
Liebeslied
Fingals-Hohle
Gebeth
Tarantelle

and 8-15, which contain the following pieces:

Kindermarchen
Rondino
Romanze
Scherzo
Sehnsucht
Lied on Wohrte
Mazurka
Polonaise Favorites Nos. 1-7
Romanze
Walzer in Landlerstyl

Agathe Op. 22
Glockentone Op. 24
Das Blumlein Op. 34

Ossian

Bibliography

Recording

• [1] By the Canadian guitarist Michael Murray.
• [2] Adam Holzman plays the complete Opus 13
• [3] David Leisner performs Mertz and his contemporary, Schubert

Sound sample

External links

• Johann Kaspar Mertz: biography and classical guitar sheet music
• Johann Kaspar Mertz was listed in the International Music Score Library Project