Franz Ignaz Beck (February 20, 1734 – December 31, 1809) was a German violinist, composer, conductor and music teacher who spent the greater part of his life in France, where he became director of the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. Beck, born at Mannheim, Germany, on February 20, 1734, began his violin studies with his father, Johann Aloys Beck (died 1742), an oboist and Rector of the Choir School at the Palatinate Court in Mannheim. He also learned double bass and organ, among other instruments, and eventually came under the tutelage of Johann Stamitz, the director of instrumental music and leader of the brilliant Mannheim court orchestra. Beck’s talents were quickly recognized and Elector Charles Theodore of the Palatinate, undertook responsibility for his education. As a youth Beck was very much in favor with the Mannheim court and named chamber virtuoso of the Prince elector.
Beck’s time in Mannheim came to an abrupt end when he – seemingly fatally – wounded an opponent in a duel (allegedly because of jealousy), an act that forced him to leave Germany. It is hard to ascertain whether this is really what happened or just a Berlioz-like cloak and dagger story. The only source for this tale is Beck’s pupil Henri Blanchard who published this account in a biography of his former teacher in the Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris (1845). According to Blanchard, Beck’s opponent had only feigned his death, but Beck was not to learn this for several years.
Whatever the circumstances of his departure, from Mannheim Beck made his way to Venice, Italy, where he appeared as a violinist and studied composition with Baldassare Galuppi. Galuppi, whose name as a composer has faded over the centuries, was between 1750 and 1765 the most performed opera composer in Europe. In Mannheim he was especially well known. Several of his operas (16 all together) were staged at Mannheim in the middle of the 18th century. Thus, Galuppi would have known Mannheim and the fact that Mannheim had the leading orchestra in Europe. This helps to explain why Beck after his dramatic flight had probably little difficulty to establish himself in Venice and become Galuppi’s pupil. After three years in Venice he eloped to Naples with one Anna Oniga, his future wife and mother of his seven children. It seems that Beck’s career as a composer started largely during his years in Italy; this may also explain why in many traits he shows himself to be quite his own man and rather independent of the typical Mannheim style.
After his sojourn in Italy, Beck moved to Marseilles where he became concert master at the theatre orchestra. The exact date of his arrival in France is uncertain, but the performance of one of his symphonies in Paris in 1757 is documented. When Beck’s Parisian publisher Venier announced the publication of Beck’s op. 3 in November 1762, he introduced Beck with these words: Actualmente Primo Violino del Concerto di Marsilia. Between 1757 and 1762, all of his 24 symphonies were published in rapid succession by Parisian firms. At least seven performances of Beck’s symphonies are known to have been given in Marseilles in 1760-61.
In 1761 Beck moved from Marseilles to Bordeaux where he became director of concerts and was appointed musical director with the dramatic company of the Marechal Duc de Richelieu, which in 1780 moved into the newly built Grand Théâtre. He also was active as organist and teacher. Among his more prominent pupils were Pierre Gaveaux, Henri Blanchard and Nicolas Bochsa. On October 24, 1774, he was appointed organist at St Seurin, Bordeaux, where his improvisatory powers won him admiration from the congregation. By the time he was settled in Bordeaux Beck’s best times as a composer were all but over. Much of what he wrote there seems to have been either lost or destroyed by Beck himself. His greatest success came in 1783 when he travelled to Paris to direct the first performance of his Stabat mater in Versailles.
As did many other composers, Beck wrote patriotic and revolutionary music during the Revolution, including a Hymne á l’Être Suprême. Nevertheless, in 1791 he got into trouble with the new authorities when through caustic remarks he openly ridiculed some overzealous partisans of the new spirit. He seems to have been a self-assured, proud and stubborn man. When he was subsequently put before a revolutionary trial in his nightshirt, he answered questions concerning his attitude towards the revolution with the exclamation: “What could I do against the revolution!?” Beck’s fortunes declined in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Whereas in the year 1791 he was still able to pay his mother in law a pension of 400 Livres, a few years later he was barely able to support his family.
In 1806 Beck sent the score of his Stabat Mater with a personal dedication to Napoleon – whether out of genuine admiration or in an attempt to ingratiate himself with the great Corsican is hard to decide. He died at Bordeaux, France, on December 31, 1809. Beck’s 24 symphonies are in three movements and follow the Italian sinfonia with the customary tempi: fast-slow-fast. The Minuet, as third movement already ubiquitous in Johann Stamitz’ symphonies, is usually omitted by Beck. However, some of his symphonies do have four movements as well as a minuet; as for the symphonies of Stamitz, some do not have a minuet and have only three movements. Beck had six daughters, two of whom died early. His only son was commander of a French corvette during the Napoleonic wars, and was held captive by the English for a long time. Beck is not to be confused with the German composer Franz Ignaz von Beecke (1733–1803).
My CD collection includes the following works by Franz Ignaz Beck:
Sinfonia in BbM.
Sinfonia in DM.
Sinfonia in GM.
Sinfonia in DM, op. 10 no. 2.
Sinfonia in EM, op. 13 no. 1.
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