Pieter van Maldere

Biography

Pieter van Maldere, known also as Pierre van Maldere (16 October 1729 – 1 November 1768) was a Flemish violinist and composer. He was a violinist of the Royal Chapel, the court orchestra in Brussels of the governor-general of the Austrian Netherlands, Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine. After an international career which brought him to Dublin, Paris and Vienna, he returned to Brussels where he became a director of the Brussels opera house (De Munt/La Monnaie). He was the leading composer of the Austrian Netherlands in the mid-18th century. His symphonies, exemplary for the galant style, merged French stylistic elements with Viennese and Italian influences.

Life

Van Maldere was born in Brussels and educated as a violinist and composer, probably by the Kapellmeisters of the Brussels Royal Chapel, first Jean-Joseph Fiocco and later Henri-Jacques de Croes. From 1749 he was a violinist at the Royal Chapel, the court orchestra of the Austrian Netherlands, Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine. From 1751 to 1753, van Maldere was director of the Philarmonick Concerts in Dublin. William Manwaring published the Six Trios for 2 Fiddles and thorough Bass composed by Sieur Van Maldere in Dublin in December 1752. Van Maldere played in the Paris Concert Spirituel in August 1754. He accompanied Prince Charles Alexander on his many travels, to France (Paris), Bohemia (Prague) and Austria (Vienna), where his two first comic operas were performed in Schönbrunn: Le Déguisement pastoral (1756) and Les Amours champêtres (1758). Van Maldere also performed for the empress Maria Theresia in Vienna.
After his return to Brussels, Van Maldere composed a number of operas and over 40 symphonies, ouvertures and sonatas. In 1758, he was promoted valet de chambre to the prince. Mozart met van Maldere in Brussels during his first international tour as a child prodigy. From 1763 to 1767, he was co-director of the Grand Théâtre (Muntschouwburg, Théâtre de la Monnaie), a period which ended in a financial fiasco. Ignaz Vitzthumb (1724–1816) was the conductor of the Muntschouwburg in those years. Van Maldere's students at the Royal Chapel included the violinist Joseph Gehot (1756 - after 1795) and the clarinettist Amand Vanderhagen (1753–1822). Van Maldere enjoyed an international reputation. Both Mozart and Haydn were familiar with his work. The Austrian composer Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf noted him as one of the most important virtuosi of his time.
Van Maldere died in Brussels. After his death, his brother succeeded him as the first violinist of the Royal Chapel.

Principal compositions

Many violin- and triosonatas, of which 3 trios for harpsichord, violin and cello op. 7, published posthumously by Van Ypen & Pris in Brussels, between 1774 and 1778.
Overtures
Some 45 symphonies, among which:
Sei sinfonie a più stromenti (dedicated to the duke d'Antin, ca. 1760)
Sei sinfonie a più stromenti (Paris, 1762) (without basso continuo, influenced by the Mannheim school)
Sei sinfonie a più stromenti opus 4 (Paris and Lyon, 1764)
Sei sinfonie a più stromenti opus 5 (Paris, 1768)
Operas
1756: Le Déguisement pastoral (Vienna, Schönbrunn, 12 July) (Later performance: Brussels, 12 December 1759)
1758: Les Amours champêtres (Vienna, Schönbrunn, 5 November)
1763: La Bagarre (Paris, Théâtre italien, 10 February, 7 July, in collaboration with François-André Danican Philidor?)
1766: Le Médecin de l'amour (Brussels, date unknown; for an illustration, see the French Wikipedia) (libretto by Louis Anseaume and Pierre-Augustin Lefèvre de Marcouville)
1766: Le Soldat par amour (Brussels, 4 November, in collaboration with Ignaz Vitzthumb)

List of instrumental works

Source:
VR 1 – Trio Sonata in D major
VR 2 – Trio Sonata in G major
VR 3 – Trio Sonata in A major
VR 4 – Trio Sonata in C major
VR 5 – Trio Sonata in E flat major
VR 6 – Trio Sonata in D minor
VR 7 – Trio Sonata in G major
VR 8 – Trio Sonata in F major
VR 9 – Trio Sonata in B flat major
VR 10 – Trio Sonata in C major
VR 11 – Trio Sonata in G major
VR 12 – Trio Sonata in D major, Op. 1 No.1
VR 13 – Trio Sonata in A major, Op. 1 No.2
VR 14 – Trio Sonata in C minor
VR 15 – Trio Sonata in E flat major
VR 16 – Trio Sonata in E minor
VR 17 – Trio Sonata in B minor
VR 18 – Trio Sonata in F minor
VR 19 – Trio Sonata in F major
VR 20 – Trio Sonata in C major
VR 21 – Trio Sonata in F major
VR 22 – Trio Sonata in D minor
VR 23 – Trio Sonata in A major
VR 24 – Trio Sonata in B flat major, Op. 1 No.3
VR 25 – Trio Sonata in G minor, Op. 1 No.4
VR 26 – Trio Sonata in D major, Op. 1 No.5
VR 27 – Trio Sonata in C major, Op. 1 No.6
VR 28 – Symphony in G major
VR 29 – Symphony in F major
VR 30 – Symphony in D major
VR 31 – Symphony in C major
VR 32 – Symphony in E flat major
VR 33 – Symphony in F major
VR 34 – Symphony in B flat major
VR 35 – Symphony in A major
VR 36 – Symphony in F major
VR 37 – Symphony in C major
VR 38 – Symphony in D major
VR 39 – Symphony in C major* (lost)
VR 40 – Symphony in E major
VR 41 – Symphony in A major
VR 42 – Symphony in G minor
VR 43 – Symphony in D major
VR 44 – Symphony in B flat major
VR 45 – Symphony in A major
VR 46 – Violin Sonata in B flat major
VR 47 – Violin Sonata in C major
VR 48 – Violin Sonata in D major
VR 49 – Violin Sonata in A major
VR 50 – Violin Sonata in F major
VR 51 – Violin Sonata in A major
VR 52 – Violin Sonata in F major
VR 53 – Symphony in G minor, Op. 4 No.1
VR 54 – Symphony in C major, Op. 4 No.2
VR 55 – Symphony in B flat major, Op. 4 No.3
VR 56 – Symphony in G major, Op. 4 No.4
VR 57 – Symphony in E flat major, Op. 4 No.5
VR 58 – Symphony in D major, Op. 4 No.6
VR 59 – Symphony in E flat major
VR 60 – Symphony in G major
VR 61 – Symphony in C major
VR 62 – Symphony in D major
VR 63 – Symphony in F major
VR 64 – Symphony in C major
VR 65 – Symphony in E flat major
VR 66 – Symphony in D major
VR 67 – Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 5 No.1
VR 68 – Violin Sonata in C major, Op. 5 No.2
VR 69 – Violin Sonata in E major, Op. 5 No.3
VR 70 – Violin Sonata in D major, Op. 5 No.4
VR 71 – Violin Sonata in D major, Op. 5 No.5
VR 72 – Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 5 No.6
VR 73 – Symphony in D major, Op. 5 No.1
VR 74 – Symphony in F major, Op. 5 No.2
VR 75 – Symphony in E flat major, Op. 5 No.3
VR 76 – Symphony in B flat major, Op. 5 No.4
VR 77 – Symphony in G major, Op. 5 No.5
VR 78 – Symphony in D major, Op. 5 No.6
VR 79 – Symphony in D minor
VR 80 – Symphony in E flat major
VR 81 – Symphony in B flat major
VR 82 – Symphony in F major
VR 83 – Symphony in D major
VR 84 – Keyboard Trio No.1 in C major, Op. 7 No.1
VR 85 – Keyboard Trio No.2 in G major, Op. 7 No.2
VR 86 – Keyboard Trio No.3 in D major, Op. 7 No.3
VR 87 – Violin Sonata in B flat major
VR 88 – Violin Sonata in A major

Editions

Van Maldere, Pierre, VI Sonatas for Two Violins with a Bass for the Harpsichord, for Violoncello (Facsimile Series for Musicians and Scholars, vol. 30) (Peer: Musica-Alamire, 1989).
Craig Lister (ed.): Pierre van Maldere: Six Symphonies a più strumenti, opus 4 (Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era, vols 35–36) (Madison, WI: A-R Editions, 1990).

Selected discography

Symphony in C major VR 31; Symphony in D major VR 73; Sonata à violino solo e basso VR 48: Vienna Consortium di rci e fiati, conducted by Filip Bral, Eurynome 002 (CD, 1995).
Pieter van Maldere. Symphoniae: Collegium instrumentale Brugense, conducted by Patrick Peire, Eufoda 1206 (CD, 2002).
Pieter van Maldere. Sinfonie: The Academy of Ancient Music, conducted by Filip Bral, Klara MMP 012 (CD, undated).
Symphony in G major VR 28: Irish Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Peter Whelan, Linn Records CKD 639 (CD, 2021)