Johann Sedlatzek
[19] The young tailor and budding flautist suited von Oppersdorff's requirements and soon was invited to study music formally with the musicians of the Royal Court of OberGlogau.
[20][21] In March 1810, Sedlatzek left his family home to pursue his musical aspirations in Opava, the cultural heart of Silesia at the time, earning his living as Master Tailor while also working as a doorman at the local theater.
Johann Sedlatzek was finally able to put aside the family trade and focus on music exclusively when he was hired as first flute to the "Theater an der Wien" in September 1812.
[9] Other notable musicians who performed in the Vienna premier of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in 1824 included soprano Henriette Sontag, contralto Caroline Unger, tenor Anton Haizinger, and pianist Conradin Kreutzer.
In the wind section, playing along with Sedlatzek, were Karl Scholl, Joseph Friedlowsky, Wenzell Sedlak, Thobold Hurth, and Edward Levy.
The first stop was in Zurich, where he performed with the pianist Johann Peter Pixiusem, prompting the "Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung" to write about the flautist "with great delight".
And, as a bonus, at the end of the show, Johann Sedlatzek performed publicly, for the first time,[4] on the newly invented Viennese Flute with which he would become synonymous during his later career.
[28] The club was named after the Drama "Ludlam's Cave" by Danish poet Adam Oehlenschläger (14 November 1779 – 20 January 1850) and was also a reference to the dark, cave-like rooms in which the group typically met.
While the society is consistently referred to as "secret", it was, in fact, well known to the public due to its large membership of prominent artists, even being written of in Vienna papers.
Reports of attendees[31] suggest the meetings were more akin to rowdy fraternity parties than dark rituals of sacred meaning or political intrigue.
Nonetheless, the group's esoteric activities, strange symbolism, red and black color preference, and coded communications drew the suspicions of local authorities.
A police raid was conducted during a meeting of Ludlamshohle held on 19 April 1826, founded on a charge no more specific than "sedition" in which manuscripts, artwork and money were confiscated, while many members were arrested.
"[45] A review of a concert held 8 July 1838 shows how performances by Johann Sedlatzek were generally received: Sedlatzek spent sixteen active years in London[4] where he frequently played to crowded halls and performed with renowned musicians including Johann Strauss, Signor Brizzi[47] Nicolas Mori, Felix Mendelssohn,[48] double-bass master Domenico Dragonetti,[49][50] and guitar virtuoso Trinidad Huerta.
[54] The first of these births was announced in the August 9, 1828, edition of the "London Literary Gazette" : His children: Therese, Nina, Paul, Georg,[4] and Marie[11] each achieved their own musical successes.
Georg's son, Ludwig Maria Sedlaczek[56] (3 January 1875 – 14 October 1965), extended the line of musicians begun in the 19th century into the 20th, as he performed and conducted throughout Austria and Germany in the early 1900s, and then, after moving to America in 1927, served as professor of Music at University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
The August 1840 issue of The Musical World reviewed a June concert of that year at which: While all of Sedlatzek's children found careers as musicians in the following decades, his daughter, Marie, was most often referenced in the London journals in the latter half of the 19th century.
The Musical World records that a farewell concert was given in the Netherlands, where she had been touring extensively as a featured performer in previous months, on 18 February 1854 in Amsterdam at the Salle du Parc., which was "highly successful."
The Saturday March 18 edition of The Musical World included the item in their news section, saying: "M. Sedlatzek, the well-known flautist and composer has arrived in London with his daughter, who is reported to possess considerable talent as a vocalist.
[64] Aside from the tour of London in 1854 with his daughter Marie,[11] Sedlatzek spent the last years of his life in his chosen homeland of Vienna, teaching flute,[6] performing infrequent concerts,[4][65] and training his children in music.
[68] Many of the reviews of Johann Sedlatzek's performances which appeared in London journals in the nineteenth century make special mention of the specific type of flute he played, showing a strong association between the musician and his instrument.
"[69] In spite of the potential scale of the instrument, the low G was rarely attempted as the design created a non-responsiveness in the lower register that made its lowest note extremely difficult to sufficiently intone.
(Longing for the Rigi- My Native Home ...) German/Danish composer Friedrich Kuhlau (1786–1832) honored the influence of Sedlatzek with the dedication of his own "Premier Grand Trio Concert" for two flutes and piano, op.
[2] However, due to Polonization of the region during his lifetime, the Polish spelling Sedlaczek (cz) was adopted in countries controlled by or strongly influenced by Poland.
Such as: A more recent biographical article, "Johann Sedlatzek, the Paganini of flute from Głogówka", was posted on the Polish news website "nto.pl" on the 200th anniversary of his joining "Theater an der Wein" as Principal Flautist, his first job as a professional musician, in 1812.
The article was posted on the site 12 September 2012 and featured a 20th-century photograph from a ceremony held in Oberglogau (Glogowek) in 1930 in which citizens of the town at that time posed for a re-enactment photo.
An impersonator of Johann Sedlatzek, traveling bag in hand, stands at the center of the picture beside the Mayor of Oberglogau with a crowd of locals surrounding them.
[90] The flautist Wolenska had initiated her search for Sedlatzek Manuscripts after being inspired by stories told to her by the Glogowek Regional Museum Director, Alexander Devosges-Cuber, about the young tailor's apprentice from Glogowek whose advanced flute technique earned him the patronage of the Count von Oppersdorf, eventually allowing Johann to become one of the most famous flautists of the 19th century, often referred to as "The Paganini of Flute".
A three-year search of archives across Europe yielded little result until, in the spring of 2012, Wolenska uncovered 300 pages worth of manuscripts in the London National Library.
