 Le nom de Matiegka a surnagé jusqu'à aujourd'hui dans l'histoire de la musique grâce à une fausse attribution : son nocturne op. 21 pour flûte, alto et guitare, arrangé en quatuor par Schubert par l'adjonction d'un violoncelle, a longtemps été attribué à ce dernier. Né à Chotzen en Bohême, le jeune Wenzeslaus reçut ses premières notions musicales de ses parents. Arrivé à Kremsier à l'âge de 15 ans, il y prend des leçons de violon et chante dans le chœur du séminaire. Etudiant en droit à l'université de Prague dès 1791, il se perfectionne comme pianiste et violoncelliste. En 1800 il se rend à Vienne où il rentre en contact pour la première fois avec la guitare, qui devient son instrument favori. Son talent est rapidement reconnu par les éditeurs qui publient ses œuvres pour ou avec guitare, et par ses pairs (comme Molitor qui le compte parmi les principaux guitaristes viennois en 1806). Cette même année, Mauro Giuliani, à qui Matiegka voue une immense admiration, s'installe dans la capitale autrichienne. Son style de jeu et son style de composition vont beaucoup influencer notre musicien tchèque, qui lui dédiera plusieurs œuvres. L'œuvre abondante pour guitare seule inclut tous les genres, avec plusieurs sonates, de très nombreuses variations, des danses (menuets, ländler), et autres fantaisies et caprice, ainsi que des pièces didactiques, souvent inspirées de Haydn, Mozart, Paisiello etc… Cette intégrale magistralement interprétée par Giulio Tampalini réintègre enfin Matiegka aux côtés de ses pairs Carulli, Giuliani, Sor ou Legnani. (Jean-Michel Babin-Goasdoué) Guitar music from Schubert’s Vienna: Sonatas, serenades, variations and fantasies full of good tunes and light spirits. After wide-ranging surveys of guitar music in Spain and the Americas, Brilliant Classics has uncovered a largely forgotten but flourishing guitar culture in central Europe at the turn of the 19th century. A recent album dedicated to Johann Kaspar Mertz (BC95722) shone the spotlight on an early-Romantic figure writing tone-poems for the guitar just as Schumann was doing the same for the piano. His models and forbears had included Mauro Giuliani (featured on many Brilliant Classics releases) and the indefatigable Anton Diabelli. Their lesser-known contemporaries included Simon Molitor and the subject of this newly recorded compendium, Wenzeslaus Thomas Matiegka (1773-1830). Bohemian in origin, and born into a musical family, he studied music within the family before moving to Prague in the year of Mozart’s death, 1791. Having graduated with a law degree, however, he moved to Vienna, studied composition more assiduously and encountered the fashionable guitar, which soon became his favourite instrument. By 1806 he was described (by Molitor) as among the main exponents of ‘the new Viennese guitar school’. In that capacity Matiegka established for himself a successful career as a teacher, performer and composer, until his death from consumption at the age of 57. The works presented here illustrate his all-round gifts, satisfying as they do the varied purposes of teaching, entertainment, display and serious contemplation. The pair of ‘grandes sonates’ on CD1 of this set certainly fulfil the requirements of the last aim, with a Schubertian breadth of phrase and contentment. CD2 is occupied by a set of Six Sonatas Op.31 which are cast in a lighter vein but still within the Classical structures formed and perfected by Haydn. Virtuoso brilliance is the order of the day on CD3, with its 12 Menuets Brillants, and a fantasia and variation set based on popular melodies. CD4 includes both a Sonata facile and Sonate progressive aimed at students, as well as several more variation sets. Matiegka’s work as a pedagogue also dominates CDs 5 and 6 in the form of a progressive guitar method Op.24, and the collection comes to a delightful close with the composer’s Opus 1 – a set of 12 Leichte Ländler – and more variations, including an Op.12 set based on Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Among his substantial discography for Brilliant Classics, Giulio Tampalini’s complete recordings of the guitar music by Llobet (BC94335) and Tarrega (BC94336) have met with particular praise. ‘A quite outstanding Recuerdos de la Alhambra that would be hard to beat under any circumstances’ (MusicWeb International).
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