Johann Ernst Hartmann (His real name was Johann Hartmann, but due to a confusion with his elder son, who was also a composer, he became known by posterity as Johann Ernst Hartmann; 24 December 1726, Głogów, Bohemian Crown – 21 October 1793, Copenhagen) was a Danish classical composer and violinist. He is remembered in particular for his two operas on texts by Johannes Ewald in which he helped creating a national musical style. The first of these, Balders død, builds on the old Nordic mythology and uses dark colours when depicting the old Gods and Valkyries. The second, Fiskerne, describes contemporary fishermen’s lives, and uses melodies inspired by the Scandinavian folk style.
Most of the works of Hartmann were destroyed in the fire of Christiansborg Castle shortly after his death.
Two of Hartmann’s sons were composers, Johan Ernst Hartmann and August Wilhelm Hartmann, and a third, Ludvig August was a violinist. The composer Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann was the son of August Wilhelm Hartmann.
Life
Johann Hartmann was born in Groß-Glogau in Silesia on Christmas Eve 1726. No information is available about his parents, nor on where and by whom he received his education as a violinist and composer. In 1754 he started as violinist in the orchestra of the Archbishop of Breslau, Count Schaffgotsch; later he became concertmaster in the small town of Rudolstadt, and then in Plön under Duke Frederick Charles. When the Duke died in 1761, his Duchy became Danish, the Plön Chapel was dissolved and Hartmann together with some of the other orchestra musicians went to Copenhagen.
In Copenhagen he was immediately employed as a violinist in the Royal Chapel (Det Kongelige Kapel), became a sought after music teacher, including for the later King Christian VII. In 1768 he was promoted to concertmaster. He also quickly became a driving force in the chamber concerts held at the Court in the years around 1770 as well as participated in or conducted concerts in private gatherings such as the so-called Gjethus concerts, which began in 1774, or as leader of the concerts in the Harmonic Society.
The prevailing opera style at Hofteatret and Det Kongelige Teater was then still Italian-inspired, but the fashion was slowly shifting to a simpler French-inspired style and Hartmann was repeatedly encouraged to provide music for Danish-language Singspiele. In those years, Hartmann's first two attempts in the genre were performed on lyrics by Johannes Ewald. These were Balder's death and the Fishermen (which contains the King's song "Kong Christian stod ved højen mast"), and both became immediate successes. Later, other works followed, thus laying the foundations for a tradition that unfolded over the next many years on Copenhagen stages.
Before his arrival in Copenhagen and in the first years there, Hartmann wrote instrumental music for chamber ensemble and smaller orchestras in a style towards Haydn. Most of these works have disappeared following Christiansborg's fire in 1794, as his music collection was bought by the King and placed in the castle shortly before the fire.
Concertmaster of the Royal Chapel
The creation of a Concertmaster post in the Royal Chapel concurred with its expansion and transformation from a chamber music corps to an actual orchestra. In Hartmann, the Chapel found a knowledgeable and experienced conductor, but also his masterful violin playing contributed greatly to the chamber concerts which at the beginning of Christian VII's reign were highly popular. At the same time he participated as a soloist and orchestra conductor at the aristocracy's concerts founded in 1774 in Kjøbmagergade, and later in Gjethuset on Kongens Nytorv .