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Johann Hugo von Wilderer was German composer. It is believed he studied with the Venetian Giovanni Legrenzi. He worked as court organist at St Andreas, Düsseldorf. By 1696 he was court vice-Kapellmeister, and at age 30 he was appointed Kapellmeister of the Düsseldorf court, where he worked until the death of the prince-elector Palatine in 1716. The new prince united several groups of musicians in western Germany (Düsseldorf, Mannheim, and Heidelberg). With the help of Wilderer and others, the prince built the foundations for the famous Mannheim Orchestra. Wilderer probably met Georg Frideric Handel during the latter’s visits to Düsseldorf in 1710, 1711, and 1719. Wilderer moved with the Kapelle to Heidelberg and then Mannheim (1720), where he was joint music director until 1723.
Johann Hugo von Wilderer's output reflects the musical prestige and cosmopolitanism of these courts. His ten operas, mostly written at Düsseldorf, combine a Venetian style with French features and include colourful scorings. He also composed relatively few sacred works (oratorios, cantatas, motets etc.), but his Missa brevis in G minor was copied out by J.S. Bach, who seems to have borrowed a few elements from it for the Kyrie of his B minor Mass (BWV 232). He also composed Modulationi sacre a 2, 3 e 4 voci e violini (Q.-L.). |
