Dr. Johann Maier von Eck (November 13, 1486 – February 13, 1543) was a German Scholastic theologian and defender of Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation. It was Eck who argued that the beliefs of Martin Luther and Jan Hus were similar.

Life

Johann Eck was born ''Johann Maier'' at Eck (later Egg, near Memmingen, c. 70 km miles south of Augsburg) in Swabia, and derived his additional surname from his birthplace, which he himself, after 1505, always modified into Eckius or Eccius, i.e. "of Eck." His father, Michael Maier, was a peasant and bailiff, or ''Amtmann'', of the village. The boy's education was undertaken by his uncle, Martin Maier, parish priest at Rottenburg on the river Neckar.

At the age of twelve he entered the University of Heidelberg, which he left in the following year for Tübingen. After taking his master's degree in 1501, he began the study of theology under Johann Jakob Lempp, and studied the elements of Hebrew and political economy with Konrad Summenhart. He left Tübingen in 1501 on account of the plague and after a year at Cologne finally settled at Freiburg University, at first as a student of theology and law and later as a successful teacher where he was mentor to the prominent Anabaptist leader of Waldshut and Nikolsburg, Balthasar Hubmaier, and later retaining this relationship during their move to the University of Ingolstadt. In 1508 he entered the priesthood in Strasbourg and two years later obtained his doctorate in theology.

At Freiburg in 1506 he published his first work, ''Ludicra logices exercitamenta'' and also proved himself a brilliant and subtle orator, although obsessed by an untamable controversial spirit and unrestrained powers of invective. At odds with his colleagues, he was glad to accept a call to a theological chair at Ingolstadt in November 1510, receiving at the same time the honors and income of a canon at Eichstadt. In 1512 he became prochancellor at the university and from that time until his death he was in complete control of the destinies of Ingolstadt, on which he impressed the character of ultracatholicism, which made it a bulwark of Roman Catholicism in Germany at that time.

His wide knowledge found expression in numerous writings. In the theological field he produced his ''Chrysopassus'' (Augsburg, 1514), in which he developed a Semi-Pelagian theory of predestination, while he obtained some fame as commentator on the ''Summulae'' of Peter of Spain and on Aristotle's ''De caelo'' and ''De anima''. As a political economist he defended interest, despite the opposition of the bishop of Eichstadt.

A ducal commission, appointed to find a way of ending the interminable strife between rival academic parties, asked Eck to prepare fresh commentaries on Aristotle and Petrus Hispanus. Between 1516 and 1520, in addition to all his other duties, he published commentaries on the ''Summulae'' of Petrus Hispanus, and on the ''Dialectics'', ''Physics'' and lesser scientific works of Aristotle, which became the textbooks of the university. During these early years, Eck was considered a "modernist", and his commentaries are inspired with much of the scientific spirit of the New Learning. His aim, however, had been to find a ''via media'' between old and new; his essential conservatism resulted in a lack of sympathy for the revolutionary attitude of the Reformers. Personal ambition and a desire to be conspicuous may have pushed him into public opposition to Luther. He had won a public disputation at Augsburg in 1514, defending the lawfulness of putting out capital at interest; again at Bologna in 1515, on the same subject and on the question of predestination; and these triumphs had been repeated at Vienna in 1516. By these successes he gained the patronage of the Fuggers, and found himself fairly launched as the recognized apologist of the established order in church and state. Distinguished humanists might sneer at him as "a garrulous sophist"; but from this time his ambition was not only to be the greatest scientific authority in Germany but also the champion of the papacy and of the traditional church order. The result of this new resolve was a gratuitous attack on his old friend, the distinguished humanist and jurist Ulrich Zasius, for a doctrine proclaimed ten years before, and a simultaneous assault on Erasmus's ''Annotationes in Novum Testamentum''.

Eck died at Ingolstadt, fighting to the last and worn out before his time. He was the most conspicuous champion of Roman Catholicism in the age of the Reformation, but his gifts were marred by many faults. His vast learning was the result of a powerful memory and unwearied industry, but he lacked creative imagination. He was a powerful debater, but his victories were those of a dialectician. His chief work was ''De primatu Petri'' (1519); his ''Enchiridion locorum communium adversus Lutherum'' ran through 46 editions between 1525 and 1576. In 1530-1535 he published a collection of his writings against Luther, ''Opera contra Ludderum'', in 4 vols.

Disputations with Luther and Karlstadt

As early as the spring of 1517 Eck had entered into friendly relations with Martin Luther, who had regarded him as in harmony with his own views, but this illusion was short-lived. In his ''Obelisci'' Eck attacked Luther's theses, which had been sent to him by Christoph von Scheurl, and accused him of promoting the "heresy of the Bohemian Brethren," fostering anarchy within the Church and branded him a Hussite. Luther replied in his ''Asterisci adversxes obeliseos Eccii'', while Andreas Karlstadt defended Luther's views of indulgences and engaged in a violent controversy with Eck.

A mutual desire for a public disputation led to a compact between Eck and Luther by which the former pledged himself to meet Karlstadt in debate at Erfurt or Leipzig, on condition that Luther abstain from all participation in the discussion. In December 1518, Eck published the twelve theses which he was prepared to uphold against Karlstadt, but since they were aimed at Luther rather than at the ostensible opponent, Luther addressed an open letter to Karlstadt, in which he declared himself ready to meet Eck in debate.

The disputation between Eck and Karlstadt began at Leipzig on 27 June 1519. In the first four sessions Eck maintained the thesis that free will is the active agent in the creation of good works, but he was compelled by his opponent to modify his position so as to concede that the grace of God and free will work in harmony toward the common end. Karlstadt then proceeded to prove that good works are to be ascribed to the agency of God alone, whereupon Eck yielded so far as to admit that free will is passive in the beginning of conversion, although he maintained that in course of time it enters into its rights; so that while the entirety of good works originates in God, their accomplishment is not entirely the work of God.

Despite the fact that Eck was thus virtually forced to abandon his position, he succeeded, through his good memory and his dialectic skill, in confusing the heavy-witted Karlstadt and carried off the nominal victory. He was far less successful against Luther, who, as Eck himself confessed, was his superior in memory, acumen, and learning. After a disputation on the absolute supremacy of the papacy, purgatory, penance, etc., lasting twenty-three days (4 July–27 July), the arbitrators declined to give a verdict. He did succeed in making Luther admit that there was some truth in the Hussite opinions and declare himself against the pope, but this success only embittered his animosity against his opponents, and from that time his whole efforts were devoted to Luther's overthrow. Eck also forced Luther to declare that Ecumenical Councils were sometimes errant, as in the case when Konstance (1414–1418) condemned Hus (1415). Luther now effectively denied the authority of both pope and council. Eck was greeted as victor by the theologians of the University of Leipzig, who overwhelmed him with honors and sent him away with gifts.

The impression produced by Eck upon his auditors during that momentous time may be best learned from the account of the humanist Peter of Moselle, who described him as tall, stout, and squarely built. His voice was full and rolling, and of an admirable quality for an actor, or even for a public crier. As far as his intellectual gifts were concerned, he had a wonderful memory, which, if supplemented by other talents in like proportion, would have made him a marvel, but he lacked swiftness of apprehension and deep insight, so that his masses of arguments and citations were indiscriminate, and he was filled with an inconceivable impudence though he had the cleverness to conceal it.

Attacks on Luther and Melanchthon

Soon after his return to Ingolstadt, Eck attempted to persuade Elector Frederick of Saxony to have Luther's works burned in public, and during the year 1519 he published no less than eight writings against the new movement. He failed, however, to obtain a condemnatory decision from the universities appointed to pronounce on the outcome of the Leipzig disputation. Erfurt returned the proceedings of the meeting to the Saxon duke without signifying its approval, while Paris, after repeated urging, gave an ambiguous decision limited to "the doctrine of Luther so far as investigated". Eck's only followers were the aged heretic-hunter Hoogstraten and Emser of Leipzig, together with the allied authorities of the universities of Cologne and Leuven. Luther returned Eck's assaults with more than equal vehemence and about this time Philipp Melanchthon wrote Œcolampadius that at Leipzig he had first become distinctly aware of the difference between what he considered to be true Christian theology and the scholasticism of the Aristotelian doctors. In his ''Excusatio'' (Wittenberg? 1519?) Eck, irritated all the more because early in the year he had induced Erasmus to caution, the young theological student against precipitating himself into the religious conflict, retorted that Melanchthon knew nothing of theology. In his reply to the ''Excusatio'', Melanchthon proved that he was thoroughly versed in theology, and Eck fared still worse in October of the same year when he sought to aid Emser by a strongly worded tirade against Luther. Two biting satires, one by Œcolampadius and the other by Willibald Pirckheimer, stung him to a fury which would be satisfied with nothing less than the public burning of the entire literature in the market-place at Ingolstadt, an act from which he was restrained by his colleague Reuchlin.

Papal Emissary and Inquisitor

Eck was far more highly esteemed as "the dauntless champion of the true faith" at Rome than in Germany, where he induced the universities of Cologne and Louvain to condemn the reformer's writings, but failed to enlist the German princes. In January 1520, he visited Italy at the invitation of Pope Leo X, to whom he presented his latest work ''De primate Petri adversus Ludderum'' (Ingolstadt, 1520) for which he was rewarded with the nomination to the office of papal protonotary, although his efforts to urge the Curia to decisive action against Luther were unsuccessful for some time.

In July he returned to Germany with the bull ''Exsurge Domine'' directed against Luther's writings, in which forty-one propositions of Luther were condemned as heretical or erroneous. He now believed himself in a position to crush not only the "Lutheran heretics," but also his humanist critics. The effect of the publication of the bull, however, soon undeceived him. Bishops, universities and humanists were at one in denunciation of the outrage; and, as for the attitude of the people, Eck was glad to have escaped from Saxony alive. At Meissen, Brandenburg, and Merseburg he succeeded in giving the papal measure due official publicity, but at Leipzig he was the object of the ridicule of the student body and was compelled to flee by night to Freiberg, where he was again prevented from proclaiming the bull. At Erfurt the students tore the instrument down and threw it into the water, while in other places the papal decree was subjected to still greater insults.

At Vienna its publication encountered grave difficulties, and Eck had good cause to set up a votive tablet to his patron saint upon his safe return to Ingolstadt, although even there only the authority of the papal mandate made the publication of the bull possible. This last humiliation was due, in great measure, to the fact that he had availed himself of the permission to pronounce the papal censure on prominent followers of the new movement besides Luther, and had thus made his office a means of personal revenge.

In his anger he appealed to force, and his ''Epistola ad Carolum V'' (February 18, 1521) called on the emperor to take measures against Luther, an appeal soon answered by the Edict of Worms (May, 1521). In 1521 and 1522 Eck was again in Rome, reporting on the results of his nunciature. On his return from his second visit he was the prime mover in the promulgation of the Bavarian religious edict of 1522, which practically established the senate of the University of Ingolstadt as a tribunal of the Inquisition, and led to years of persecution. In return for this action of the duke, who had at first been opposed to the policy of repression, Eck obtained for him, during a third visit to Rome in 1523, valuable ecclesiastical concessions. He continued unabated in his zeal against the reformers, publishing eight major works between 1522 and 1526.

Wealth and power were included in the aspirations of Eck. He appropriated the revenues of his parish of Günzburg, while he relegated its duties to a vicar. Twice he visited Rome as a diplomatic representative of the Bavarian court to obtain sanction for the establishment of a court of inquisition against the Lutheran teachings at Ingolstadt. The first of these journeys, late in the autumn of 1521, was fruitless on account of the death of Leo X, but his second journey in 1523 was successful. With great insight and courage he showed the Curia the true condition of affairs in Germany and pictured the general incapacity of the representatives of the Church in that country.

Of the many heresy trials in which Eck was the prime mover during this period it is sufficient to mention here that of Leonhard Kaser, whose history was published by Luther.

Zwingli and his Followers

In addition to his inquisitorial duties, every year witnessed the publication of one or more writings against iconoclasm and in defense of the doctrines of the Mass, purgatory, and auricular confession. His ''Enchiridion locorum communium adversus Lutherum et alios hostes ecclesiae'' (Landshut, 1525) went through forty-six editions before 1576. As its title indicates, it was directed primarily against Melanchthon's ''Loci Communes'', although it also concerned itself to some extent with the teachings of Huldrych Zwingli.

At Baden-in-Aargau from May 21 until June 18, 1526 a public disputation on the doctrine of transubstantiation was held, in which Eck and Thomas Murner were pitted against Johann Oecolampadius. The affair ended decidedly in favor of Eck, who induced the authorities to enter on a course of active persecution of Zwingli and his followers (Conference of Baden).

The effect of his victory at Baden was dissipated, however, at the Disputation of Bern (January 1528), where the propositions advanced by the Reformers were debated in the absence of Eck, and Bern, Basel, and other places were definitely won for the Reformation. At the Diet of Augsburg (1530) Eck played the leading part among the Roman Catholic theologians.

Peace overtures

For the upcoming Diet of Augsburg, while still at Ingolstadt, Eck compiled what he considered to be 404 heretical propositions from the writings of the reformers as an aid to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. At Augsburg he was charged by the emperor to draw up, in concert with twenty other theologians, a refutation of the Lutheran Augsburg Confession, which had been delivered to the emperor on June 25, 1530, but he had to rewrite it five times before it suited the emperor. It was known as the ''Confutatio pontificia'', embodying the Catholic reaction to the reformers. He also was involved in the fruitless negotiations with the Protestant theologians, including Philipp Melanchthon, that took place at Augsburg; Eck with Wimpina and Cochlæus met the Lutherans in August.

He was at the Colloquy of Worms in 1540 where he showed some signs of a willingness to compromise. In January 1541 he renewed these efforts and succeeded in impressing Melanchthon as being prepared to give his assent to the main principles of the reformers, e.g. Justification by faith; but at the diet of Regensburg in the spring and summer of 1541 his old violence reasserted itself in opposing all efforts at reconciliation and persuading the Catholic princes to reject the "Regensburg Interim" proposed.

The last important phase of Eck's activity was his conflict with Martin Bucer over the latters published report of the 1541 diet of Regensburg.

Eck's German New Testament

Special mention should be made, among Eck's many writings, of his German translation of the Bible (the New Testament a revision of H. Emser's rendering) which was first published at Ingolstadt in 1537.

Eck and the Genealogy of Christ

The Roman Catholic Encyclopedia reports that Eck made a sermon on the genealogy of Christ, naming Mary's Mother's parents as Emerentia and Stollanus. The encyclopedia regards this genealogy as spurious..

Eck and Antisemitism

In 1541 Eck published his ''Against the Defense of the Jews'' [German: Ains Juden-büechlins Verlegung]. In it he opposes the position of the Nuremberg reformer Andreas Osiander, who wanted to quash medieval superstition that Jews were responsible for killing Christian children, desecrating the eucharistic Host, and poisoning wells. Osiander's pamphlet is ''Whether It Be True and Credible That the Jews Secretly Strangulate Christian Children and Make Use of Their Blood''. Eck accused Osiander of being a "Jew-protector" and "Jew-father," and no fewer than nineteen times reviled the Jews, culminating with the epithet for them: "a blasphemous race"

Notes

Works

. . .

References

T Wiedemann, ''Dr Johann Eck'' (Regensburg, 1865).

Category:1486 births Category:1543 deaths Category:People from Unterallgäu Category:German Roman Catholic theologians Category:Anti-Protestantism Category:Martin Luther Category:University of Freiburg alumni Category:University of Heidelberg alumni Category:University of Ingolstadt faculty

ca:Johannes Eck da:Johannes Eck de:Johannes Eck fr:Johannes Eck ko:요한 에크 id:Johann Eck it:Johannes Eck nl:Johannes Eck no:Johannes Eck pl:Jan Mayer von Eck ru:Экк, Иоганн fi:Johann Eck sv:Johann Eck tr:Johann Eck

Johann Strauss II (October 25, 1825 – June 3, 1899), also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son (), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was known as "The Waltz King", and was largely then responsible for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the 19th century.

Strauss was born in St. Ulrich (now a part of Neubau), the son of Johann Strauss I, another composer of dance music. His father did not wish him to become a composer, but rather a banker; however, the son defied his father's wishes, and went on to study music with the composer Joseph Drechsler and the violin with Anton Kollmann, the ballet répétiteur of the Vienna Court Opera. Strauss had two younger brothers, Josef and Eduard Strauss, who became composers of light music as well, although they were never as well-known as their elder brother.

Some of Johann Strauss's most famous works include ''The Blue Danube'', ''Kaiser-Walzer'', ''Tales from the Vienna Woods'', the ''Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka'', and the ''Pizzicato Polka''. Among his operettas, ''Die Fledermaus'' and ''Der Zigeunerbaron'' are the most well-known.

Early life

Strauss was born in St. Ulrich near Vienna (now a part of Neubau), Austria, on October 25, 1825, to the famous composer Johann Strauss I. His father did not want him to become a musician but rather a banker; nevertheless, Strauss Junior studied the violin secretly as a child with the first violinist of his father's orchestra, Franz Amon. When his father discovered his son secretly practising on a violin one day, he gave him a severe whipping, saying that he was going to beat the music out of the boy. It seems that rather than trying to avoid a Strauss rivalry, the elder Strauss only wanted his son to escape the rigors of a musician's life. It was only when the father abandoned his family for a mistress, Emilie Trampusch, that the son was able to concentrate fully on a career as a composer with the support of his mother.

Strauss studied counterpoint and harmony with theorist Professor Joachim Hoffmann, who owned a private music school. His talents were also recognized by composer Joseph Drechsler, who taught him exercises in harmony. His other violin teacher, Anton Kollmann, who was the ballet répétiteur of the Vienna Court Opera, also wrote excellent testimonials for him. Armed with these, he approached the Viennese authorities to apply for a license to perform. He initially formed his small orchestra where he recruited his members at the ''Zur Stadt Belgrad'' tavern, where musicians seeking work could be hired easily.

Debut as a composer

Johann Strauss I's influence over the local entertainment establishments meant that many of them were wary of offering the younger Strauss a contract for fear of angering the father. Strauss Jr. was able to persuade the Dommayer's Casino in Hietzing, a suburb of Vienna, to allow him to perform. The elder Strauss, in anger at his son's disobedience, and at that of the proprietor, refused to ever play at the Dommayer's Casino again, which had been the site of many of his earlier triumphs.

Strauss made his debut at Dommayer's in October 1844, where he performed some of his first works, such as the waltzes "Sinngedichte", Op. 1 and "Gunstwerber", Op. 4 and the polka "Herzenslust", Op. 3. Critics and the press were unanimous in their praise for Strauss's music. A critic for ''Der Wanderer'' commented that "Strauss’s name will be worthily continued in his son; children and children’s children can look forward to the future, and three-quarter time will find a strong footing in him."

Despite the initial fanfare, Strauss found his early years as a composer difficult, but he soon won over audiences after accepting commissions to perform away from home. The first major appointment for the young composer was his award of the honorary position of "Kapellmeister of the 2nd Vienna Citizen's Regiment", which had been left vacant following Joseph Lanner's death two years before.

Vienna was racked by a bourgeois revolution on February 24, 1848, and the intense rivalry between father and son became much more apparent. Johann Jr. decided to side with the revolutionaries. It was a decision that was professionally disadvantageous, as the Austrian royalty twice denied him the much coveted 'KK Hofballmusikdirektor' position, which was first designated especially for Johann I in recognition of his musical contributions. Further, the younger Strauss was also arrested by the Viennese authorities for publicly playing "La Marseillaise", but was later acquitted. The elder Strauss remained loyal to the monarchy, and composed his "Radetzky March", Op. 228 (dedicated to the Habsburg field marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz), which would become one of his best-known compositions.

When the elder Strauss died from scarlet fever in Vienna in 1849, the younger Strauss merged both their orchestras and engaged in further tours. Later, he also composed a number of patriotic marches dedicated to the Habsburg Emperor Franz Josef I, such as the "Kaiser Franz-Josef Marsch" Op. 67 and the "Kaiser Franz Josef Rettungs Jubel-Marsch" Op. 126, probably to ingratiate himself in the eyes of the new monarch, who ascended to the Austrian throne after the 1848 revolution.

Career advancements

Strauss Jr. eventually surpassed his father's fame, and became one of the most popular waltz composers of the era, extensively touring Austria–Hungary, Poland, and Germany with his orchestra. He applied for the KK Hofballmusikdirektor ''Music Director of the Royal Court Balls'' position, which he eventually attained in 1863, after being denied several times before for his frequent brushes with the local authorities.

In 1853, due to constant mental and physical demands, Strauss suffered a nervous breakdown. He took a seven-week vacation in the countryside in the summer of that year, on the advice of doctors. Johann's younger brother Josef was persuaded by his family to abandon his career as an engineer and take command of Johann's orchestra in the interim.

In 1855, Strauss accepted commissions from the management of the Tsarskoye-Selo Railway Company of Saint Petersburg to play in Russia for the Vauxhall Pavilion at Pavlovsk in 1856. He would return to perform in Russia every year until 1865.

Later, in the 1870s, Strauss and his orchestra toured the United States, where he took part in the Boston Festival at the invitation of bandmaster Patrick Gilmore and was the lead conductor in a 'Monster Concert' of over 1000 performers, performing his "Blue Danube" waltz, amongst other pieces, to great acclaim.

Marriages

Strauss married the singer Jetty Treffz in 1862, and they remained together until Jetty's death in 1878. Six weeks after her death, Strauss married the actress Angelika Dittrich. Angelika was not a fervent supporter of his music, and their differences in status and opinion, and especially her indiscretion, led him to seek a divorce.

Strauss was not granted a divorce by the Roman Catholic church, and therefore changed religion and nationality, and became a citizen of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in January 1887. Strauss sought solace in his third wife Adele Deutsch, whom he married in August 1882. She encouraged his creative talent to flow once more in his later years, resulting in many famous compositions, such as the operettas ''Der Zigeunerbaron'' and ''Waldmeister'', and the waltzes "Kaiser-Walzer" Op. 437, "Kaiser Jubiläum" Op. 434, and "Klug Gretelein" Op. 462.

Musical rivals and admirers

Although Strauss was the most sought-after composer of dance music in the latter half of the 19th century, stiff competition was present in the form of Karl Michael Ziehrer and Émile Waldteufel; the latter held a commanding position in Paris. Phillip Fahrbach also denied the younger Strauss the commanding position of the ''KK Hofballmusikdirektor'' when the latter first applied for the post. The German operetta composer Jacques Offenbach, who made his name in Paris, also posed a challenge to Strauss in the operetta field.

Strauss was admired by other prominent composers: Richard Wagner once admitted that he liked the waltz "Wein, Weib und Gesang" Op. 333. Richard Strauss (unrelated to the Strauss family), when writing his ''Rosenkavalier'' waltzes, said in reference to Johann Strauss, "How could I forget the laughing genius of Vienna?"

Johannes Brahms was a personal friend of Strauss; the latter dedicated his waltz "Seid umschlungen, Millionen!" ("Be Embraced, You Millions!"), Op. 443, to him. A story is told in biographies of both men that Strauss's wife Adele approached Brahms with a customary request that he autograph her fan. It was usual for the composer to inscribe a few measures of his best-known music, and then sign his name. Brahms, however, inscribed a few measures from the "Blue Danube", and then wrote beneath it: "Unfortunately, NOT by Johannes Brahms."

Stage works

The most famous of Strauss' operettas are ''Die Fledermaus'', ''Eine Nacht in Venedig'', and ''Der Zigeunerbaron''. Notwithstanding their general lack of modern popularity, there are many dance pieces drawn from themes of his operettas, such as "Cagliostro-Walzer" Op. 370 (from ''Cagliostro in Wien''), "O Schöner Mai" Walzer Op. 375 (from ''Prinz Methusalem''), "Rosen aus dem Süden" Walzer Op. 388 (from ''Das Spitzentuch der Königin''), and "Kuss-Walzer" op. 400 (from ''Der lustige Krieg''), that have survived obscurity and become well-known. Strauss also wrote an opera, ''Ritter Pázmán'', and was in the middle of composing a ballet, ''Aschenbrödel'', when he died in 1899.

Death and legacy

Strauss was diagnosed with plueral pneumonia in the spring of 1899, and died in Vienna, at the age of 73. He was buried in the Zentralfriedhof. At the time of his death, he was still composing his ballet ''Aschenbrödel''.

Strauss's music is now regularly performed at the annual ''Neujahrskonzert'' of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, as a result of the efforts by Clemens Krauss who performed a special all-Strauss programme in 1929 with the Viennese orchestra. Many distinguished Strauss interpreters include Willi Boskovsky, who carried on the "Vorgeiger" tradition of conducting with violin in hand, as is the Strauss family custom, as well as Herbert von Karajan and the opera conductor Riccardo Muti. In addition, the Wiener Johann Strauss Orchester, which was formed in 1966, pays tribute to the touring orchestras which once made the Strauss family so famous.

Most of the Strauss works that are performed today may once have existed in a slightly different form, as Eduard Strauss destroyed much of the original Strauss orchestral archives in a furnace factory in Vienna's Mariahilf district in 1907. Eduard, then the only surviving brother of the three, took this drastic precaution after agreeing to a pact between himself and brother Josef that whoever outlived the other was to destroy their works. The measure was intended to prevent the Strauss family's works from being claimed by another composer. This may also have been fueled by Strauss's rivalry with another of Vienna's popular waltz and march composers, Karl Michael Ziehrer.

Portrayals in the media

The lives of the Strauss dynasty members and their world-renowned craft of composing Viennese waltzes are also briefly documented in several television adaptations, such as ''The Strauss Family'' (1972), ''The Strauss Dynasty'' (1991) and ''Strauss, the King of 3/4 Time'' (1995). Many other films used his works and melodies, and several films have been based upon the life of the musician, the most famous of which is called ''The Great Waltz'' (1938). Alfred Hitchcock made a low-budget biographical film of Strauss in 1933 called ''Waltzes from Vienna''. After a trip to Vienna, Walt Disney was inspired to create four feature films. One of those was ''The Waltz King'', a loosely adapted biopic of Johann Strauss, which aired as part of the Wonderful World of Disney in the U.S. in 1963. In Mikhail Bulgakov's 1940 (published 1967) novel, ''The Master and Margarita'', Johann Strauss conducts the orchestra during Satan's Great Ball at the invitation of Behemoth.

"A Corny Concerto" (1943), a Warner Bros cartoon, directed by Robert Clampett with animation by Robert McKimson features music that was composed by Johann Strauss, and is a parody of Walt Disney's 1940 "Fantasia". The cartoon is narrated by Elmer Fudd, parodying Deems Taylor's appearance in Fantasia.

Works

See List of operettas by Johann Strauss II and List of compositions by Johann Strauss II.

Notes

References

Gänzl, Kurt. ''The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre'' (3 Volumes). New York: Schirmer Books, 2001.

Traubner, Richard. ''Operetta: A Theatrical History''. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983.

Jacob, H. E. ''Johann Strauss, Father and Son: A Century of Light Music''. The Greystone Press, 1940.

External links

European Archive Copyright free LP recording of several (abridged) works by Johann Strauss II, at the European Archive (for non-American viewers only).

A complete list of Strauss's compositions

Johann Strauss Gallery

List of Strauss's stage works with date, theatre information and links

www.kreusch-sheet-music.net Free Scores by Strauss

Category:19th-century Austrian people Category:Opera composers Category:Romantic composers Category:Viennese composers Category:Ballet composers Category:People from Neubau Category:Burials at the Zentralfriedhof Category:1825 births Category:1899 deaths Johann Strauss II

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bgcolour	#EEDD82
name	Jan van Eyck
birth name	Jan van Eyck/Johannes van Eyck
birth date	c. 1395
birth place	probably Maaseik, Burgundian Netherlands
death date	before 9 July
death place	Bruges, Burgundian Netherlands
nationality	Flemish
field	Painting
movement	Renaissance
works	About 25 paintings have been attributed
patrons	John III, Duke of Bavaria, Philip the Good
influenced by	Hubert van Eyck
awards	}}

Jan van Eyck (or Johannes de Eyck) () (before c. 1395 – before 9 July 1441) was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century.

There is a common misconception, which dates back to the sixteenth-century ''Vite'' of the Tuscan artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari, that Jan van Eyck invented oil painting. Oil painting as a technique for painting wood statues and other objects is much older, and Theophilus (Roger of Helmarshausen?) clearly gives instructions for oil-based painting in his treatise, On Divers Arts, written in 1125. It is however true that the van Eyck brothers were among the earliest Early Netherlandish painters to use it for very detailed panel paintings, and that they achieved new and remarkable effects through the use of glazes, wet-on-wet and other techniques. Thus, because of his early mastery of the technique, he was traditionally known as the "father of oil painting."

Jan van Eyck has often been linked as brother to painter and peer Hubert van Eyck, because both have been thought to originate from the same town, Maaseik in Limburg (Belgium). Another brother, Lambert van Eyck is mentioned in Burgundian court documents, and there is a conjecture that he too was a painter, and that he may have overseen the closing of Jan van Eyck's Bruges workshop. Another significant, and rather younger, painter who worked in Southern France, Barthélemy van Eyck, is presumed to be a relation.

Life

Youth

The date of van Eyck's birth is not known. The first existing record of van Eyck is from the court of John of Bavaria at The Hague, where payments were made to Jan van Eyck between 1422 and 1424 as court painter, with the court rank of valet de chambre, and first one and then two assistants. This suggests a date of birth of at the latest 1395 and indeed probably earlier. His apparent age in his probable self-portrait (right) suggests to most scholars an earlier date than 1395. Miniatures in the Turin-Milan Hours, if indeed they are by van Eyck, are likely to be the only surviving works from this period, and most of these were destroyed by fire in 1904, though photographs exist.

Worldly success

Following the death of John of Bavaria, in 1425 van Eyck entered the service of the powerful and influential Valois prince, Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy. Van Eyck resided in Lille for a year and then moved to Bruges, where he lived until his death in 1441. A number of documents published in the twentieth century record his activities in Philip's service. He was sent on several missions on behalf of the Duke, and worked on several projects which likely entailed more than painting. With the exception of two portraits of Isabella of Portugal, which van Eyck painted at Philip's behest as a member of a 1428-9 delegation to seek her hand, the precise nature of these works is obscure (see this copy ).

As a painter and "valet de chambre" to the Duke, Jan van Eyck was exceptionally well paid. His annual salary was quite high when he was first engaged, but it doubled twice in the first few years, and was often supplemented by special bonuses. His salary alone makes Jan van Eyck an exceptional figure among early Netherlandish painters, since most of them depended on individual commissions for their livelihoods. An indication that Van Eyck's art and person were held in extraordinarily high regard is a document from 1435 in which the Duke scolded his treasurers for not paying the painter his salary, arguing that Van Eyck would leave and that he would nowhere be able to find his equal in his "art and science." The Duke also served as godfather to one of Van Eyck's children, supported his widow upon the painter's death, and years later helped one of his daughters with the funds required to enter a convent.

Some individual works

Jan van Eyck produced paintings for private clients in addition to his work at the court. Foremost among these is the ''Ghent Altarpiece'' painted for Jodocus Vijdts and his wife Elisabeth Borluut. Started sometime before 1426 and completed, at least partially, by 1432, this polyptych has been seen to represent "the final conquest of reality in the North", differing from the great works of the Early Renaissance in Italy by virtue of its willingness to forgo classical idealization in favor of the faithful observation of nature. It is housed in its original location, the Cathedral of St. Bavo in Ghent, Belgium. It has had a turbulent history, surviving the 16th-century iconoclastic riots, the French Revolution, changing tastes which led to its dissemination, and most recently Nazi looting. When World War II ended it was recovered in a salt mine, and the story of its restoration drew considerable interest from the general public and greatly advanced the discipline of the scientific study of paintings. No less turbulent was the history of the interpretation of this work. Since an inscription states that Hubert van Eyck ''maior quo nemo repertus'' (greater than anyone) started the altarpiece, but that Jan van Eyck - calling himself ''arte secundus'' (second best in the art) - finished it identifies it as a collaborative effort of Jan van Eyck and his brother Hubert. The question of who painted what, or "Jan or Hubert?" has become a mythical one among art historians. Some even question the validity of the inscription, and thus Hubert van Eyck's involvement. In the 1930s, Emil Renders even argued that "Hubert van Eyck" was a complete fiction invented by Ghent humanists in the 16th century. More recently, Lotte Brand Philip (1971) has proposed that the Ghent Altarpiece's inscription has been misread, and that Hubert was (in Latin) the "fictor", not the "pictor", of the work. She interprets this as meaning that Jan van Eyck painted the entire altarpiece, while his brother Hubert created its sculptural framework.

Exceptionally for his time, van Eyck often signed and dated his paintings on their frames, then considered an integral part of the work (the two were often painted together). However, in the celebrated ''Arnolfini Portrait'' (London, National Gallery) reproduced at left, van Eyck inscribed on the (pictorial) back wall above the convex mirror "Johannes de Eyck fuit hic 1434" (Jan van Eyck was here, 1434). The painting is one of the most frequently analyzed by art historians, but in recent years a number of popular interpretations have been questioned. This is probably not a painted marriage certificate, or the record of a betrothal, as originally suggested by Erwin Panofsky. Although the woman looks to be pregnant, the hand-gesture of lifting the dress recurs in contemporary renditions of virgin saints (including Jan van Eyck's own ''Dresden Triptych'' and a workshop piece, the Frick ''Madonna''); however, the body type, and the fashions accentuating that body type, may emphasize the child-bearing potential of women. Recently-discovered records indicating that Giovanni Arnolfini's wife died before 1434, together with details in the picture, suggest that the portrayed woman was deceased (perhaps in childbirth) before or during the picture's making

The theme of the ''Arnolfini Portrait'' was used in an episode of the Russian satirical TV show ''Kukly'' to depict Russian President Vladimir Putin wearing an outfit of the painting's male character with whom Putin apparently shares facial features. The episode shows Putin's Russia as being stuck in the darkness of the Middle Ages with Putin, who lives in a secluded medieval castle, ruling the country with an iron fist, manipulating and oppressing people by means of nationalistic propaganda and Inquisition. Since 2002 the show is banned in Russia.

Other works

Other works include two remarkable commemorative panels, the ''Madonna with Chancellor Rolin'' (Paris, Louvre), and the ''Madonna with canon Joris van der Paele'' (Bruges, Groeninge Museum), some other religious paintings, notably the ''Annunciation'' (Washington, National Gallery of Art), and a number of haunting portraits, including that of his wife, Margareta (Bruges, Groeningemuseum), and what is believed to be his self-portrait, ''Portrait of a Man'', often mistitled ''Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban'', as in fact he wears a chaperon. Many more works are disputed, or believed to be by his assistants or followers.

Reputation

In the most substantial early source on him, a 1454 biography by the Genoese humanist Bartolomeo Facio (''De viris illustribus''), Jan van Eyck was named "the leading painter" of his day. Facio places him among the best artists of the early 15th century, along with Rogier van der Weyden, Gentile da Fabriano, and Pisanello. It is particularly interesting that Facio shows as much enthusiasm for Netherlandish painters as he does for Italian painters. This text also sheds light on aspects of Jan van Eyck's production now lost, citing a bathing scene as well as a world map which van Eyck painted for Philip the Good. Facio also recorded that van Eyck was a learned man, and that he was versed in the classics, particularly the writings of Pliny the Elder about painting. This is supported by records of an inscription from Ovid's Ars Amatoria, which was on the now-lost original frame of the Arnolfini Double Portrait, and by the many Latin inscriptions on his paintings, using the Roman alphabet, then reserved for educated men. Jan van Eyck likely had some knowledge of Latin for his many missions abroad on behalf of the Duke.

Jan van Eyck died in Bruges in 1441 and was buried in the Church of St Donatian (destroyed during the French Revolution).

Major works

''Crucifixion'' and ''Last Judgement'' diptych (1420–1425) - Oil on wood transferred to canvas, 56.5 x 19.5 cm (each painting), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

''Madonna in the Church'' (c. 1425) - Oil on wood, 32 x 14 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin

''Annunciation'' (c. 1425-1430) - Oil on canvas, 93 x 37 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington

''The Stygmata of St. Francis'' (c. 1428-1430) - Oil on panel, 28 x 33, Galleria Sabauda, Turin

''Portrait of a Goldsmith'' (''Man with Ring''; c. 1430) - Wood, 16.6 x 13.2 cm, National Museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest

Ghent Altarpiece (1432) - Oil on panel, Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent

''Portrait of a Young Man ''(''Tymotheos''; 1432) - Oil on wood, 34.5 x 19 cm, National Gallery, London

''Madonna with Child Reading'' (1433) - Oil on wood, 26.5 x 19.5 cm, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

''Portrait of a Man in a Turban'' (1433) - Oil on panel, 25.5 x 19 cm, National Gallery, London

''Arnolfini Portrait (1434) - Oil on panel, 82 x 59.5 cm, National Gallery, London

''The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin'' (1435) - Wood, 66 x 62 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

''Portrait of Niccolò Albergati'' (c. 1435) - Oil on panel, 34 x 27.5 cm, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna

''Portrait of a Man with Carnation'' (c. 1435) - Oil on wood, 40 x 31 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin

''Portrait of Baudouin de Lannoy'' (c. 1435) - Oil on wood, 26 x 20 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin

''Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini'' (c. 1435) - Oil on wood, 29 x 20 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin

''Madonna and Child'' (''Lucca Madonna'' or ''Suckling Madonna'', 1436) - Oil on panel, 65.5 x 49.5 cm, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt

''The Madonna with Canon van der Paele'' (1436) - Oil on wood, 122 x 157 cm, Groeningemuseum, Bruges

''Portrait of Jan de Leeuw'' (1436) - Oil on wood, 24.5 x 19 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

''St. Barbara'' (1437) - Grisaille on wood, 31 x 18.5, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

''Head of Christ'' (1438), copy - Staatliche Museen, Berlin, and Alte Pinakothek, Munich

''Portrait of Margareta van Eyck'' (1439) - Oil on wood, 32.6 x 25.8 cm, Groeningemuseum, Bruges

''Madonna and Child at the Fountain'' (1439) - Oil on wood, 19 x 12 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

''Annunciation'' (c. 1440) - Oil on wood, 24 x 39 cm, Thyssen collection, Madrid

''Portrait of Christ'' (1440) - Oak panel, 33.4 x 26.8 cm, Groeningemuseum, Bruges

''St. Jerome in His Study'' (dated 1442) - Oil on linen paper on oak panel, 20 x 12.5 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit

References

;General:

Ainsworth, Maryan M. and Keith Christiansen, eds. From Van Eyck to Bruegel Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998.

L.J. Bol, ''Jan Van Eyck'' reprint: Barnes & Noble Art Series

Campbell, Lorne. The Fifteenth-Century Netherlandish Paintings. National Gallery, London. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. (Good article on the Arnolfini Double Portrait)

Foister, Susan, Sue Jones and Delphine Cool, eds. Investigating Jan van Eyck. Turnhout: Brepols, 2000.

Jenny Graham, Inventing van Eyck: The remaking of an artist for the modern age. Oxford and New York: Berg, 2007

Friedländer, Max J. Early Netherlandish Painting. Translated by Heinz Norden. Leiden: Praeger,

Craig Harbison, ''Jan van Eyck: The Play of Realism''. Sources of van Eyck's realist tradition in fifteenth century Netherlandish art.

Pächt, Otto. Van Eyck and the Founders of Early Netherlandish Painting. New York: Harvey Miller, 2000

Panofsky, Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting. London: Harper Collins, 1971

;Source documents:

Baxandall, Michael. “Bartholomaeus Facius on Painting: A Fifteenth-Century Manuscript of De Viris Illustribus.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes

Laborde, Léon, marquis de. Les ducs de Bourgogne, études sur les lettres, les arts et l'industrie pendant le XVe siècle et plus particulièrement dans les Pays-Bas et le duché de Bourgogne. 3 vols. Paris: Plon frères,

Paviot, Jacques. “La Vie de Jan van Eyck selon les Documents écrits,” Revue des archéologues et historiens d'art de Louvain XXIII

Weale, James, W. H. Hubert and John van Eyck: Their Life and Work. London: John Lane, 1908

;Ghent Altarpiece:

Dhanens, Elisabeth. Van Eyck: The Ghent Altarpiece. New York: Viking Press, 1973

;Technical Analysis:

Asperen de Boer, J. R. J. van. “A Scientific Re-examination of the Ghent Altarpiece” Oud Holland

;The Undocumented Early Years:

Buren, Anne H. van, ed. Heures de Turin-Milan: Inv. no 47, Museo Civico d'Arte Antica, Torino. Lucerne: Faksimile Verlag, 1996.

Sterling, Charles. “Jan van Eyck avant 1432” Revue de l’art) 7-82

;Relation to Contemporary European Art:

Belozerskaya, Marina. Rethinking the Renaissance: Burgundian Arts Across Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002

Borchert, Till-Holger ed. Age of Van Eyck: The Mediterranean World and Early Netherlandish Painting,. Exh. cat. Groeningemuseum, Stedelijke Musea Brugge. Bruges: Luidon, 2002

Nuttall, Paula. From Flanders to Florence: The Impact of Netherlandish Painting. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004

Weiss, Roberto. “Jan van Eyck and the Italians” Italian Studies XI (1956) 1-15

;General Information about the 15th-Century Burgundian Court:

Huizinga, Johan. The Autumn of the Middle Ages. Translated by Rodney J. Payton and Ulrich Mammitzsch. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996 (called in other edns "The Waning of the Middle Ages")

Vaughan, Richard. Philip the Good: The Apogee of Burgundy. UK: Boydell & Brewer, 2002

Footnotes

External links

A Closer Look at Jan van Eyck's Virgin and Child with Chancellor Rolin (Louvre museum)

Centre for the Study of Fifteenth-Century Painting in the Southern Netherlands and the Principality of Liège List of works

Jan van Eyck Gallery at MuseumSyndicate

Flemish Art Collection: Madonna with Canon Joris van der Paele, a masterpiece by van Eyck

Category:Flemish painters Category:Roman Catholic Church painters Category:Diplomats Category:People from Ghent Category:Walhalla enshrinees Category:1380s births Category:1441 deaths Category:Early Netherlandish painters Category:Arts in the court of Philip the Good Category:Court painters

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