Johann Kaspar Mertz was born in Pressburg, now Bratislava, on the August 17, 1806 of poor parents. He was a precocious guitar and flute virtuoso and by 1840 was living in Vienna where he had immediate success; enjoying the direct patronage of the Empress Caroline Augusta and performing in the capital. Tours to Moravia, Poland and Russia, where he played in the castle of Prince Urosoff, were followed by concerts in Berlin and Dresden. It was in the latter city that he met Josephine Plantin with whom he toured. He married her in Prague on the fourteenth of December 1842. Four years later Mertz became very ill. The doctor prescribed strycine. Josephine was rather imprudent, administering the entire dose and predictably, her husband worsened.
After eighteen months of tender nursing appears that the guitarist was again ready for rigours of concert life and his career was resumed. In 1855 he perfomed for Ludwig of Bavaria, who, the story goes, was incredulous that an instrument so modest in appearance with just ten strings could produce such an effect. Shortly before winning the 1856 competition in Brussels for guitar composition, Mertz died. Josephine gives the date as the fourteenth of October 1856.
Mertz composed prolifically for solo guitar and for guitar and piano. According to his wife, he also played the mandolin, 'cello and zither. His numbered works reach op.100 (although there are several missing piece) and there is a large body of works without opus number and manuscripts. The quality of the composition varies considerably, and it is unfortunate for us today that a sizeable proportion of the Mertz legacy comprises works based on operatic airs used in fairly predictable theme and variations or fantasy forms.
(Source: Six Schubert Songs, Simon Wynberg)
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(Lob der Thranen; Liebesbothchaft; Aufenthalt; Standchen; Die Post; Das Fischermadchen)
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