Johann Baptist Homann (20 March 1664 – 1 July 1724) was a German geographer and cartographer, who made maps of the Americas.

Homann was born in Oberkammlach near Kammlach, which is now in Bavaria. Although educated at a Jesuit school, he eventually converted to Protestantism. In 1715 Homann was appointed Imperial Geographer of the Holy Roman Empire. Giving such privileges to individuals was an added right that the Holy Roman Emperor enjoyed. In the same year he was also named a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Of particular significance to cartography were the imperial printing privileges (Latin ''privilegia impressoria''). These protected for a time the authors in all scientific fields such as printers, copper engravers, map makers and publishers. They were also very important as recommendation for potential customers.

In 1716 Homann published his masterpiece ''Grosser Atlas ueber die ganze Welt'' (Grand Atlas of all the World).

Homann died in Nuremberg. He was succeeded by the ''Homann heirs'' company, in business until 1848, known as "Homann Erben", "Homanniani Heredes", "Heritiers de Homann" abroad.

Literature

''Auserlesene und allerneueste Landkarten: der Verlag Homann in Nürnberg 1702–1848: eine Ausstellung des Stadtarchivs Nürnberg und der Museen der Stadt Nürnberg mit Unterstützung der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preussischer Kulturbesitz im Stadtmuseum Fembohaus vom 19. September bis 24. November 2002''. Hrsg. von Michael Diefenbacher, Markus Heinz und Ruth Bach-Damaskinos. Nürnberg: Tümmels, 2002. (''Ausstellungskatalog des Stadtarchivs Nürnberg'', Nr. 14). ISBN 3-925002-84-7

Christian Sandler (1886, 1890, 1905, Reprints 2001–2002) (biography section considered outdated)

External links

Maps of Homann in Denmark online from ''Det Kongelige Bibliotek''. Requires DjVu-Plugin

50 maps of Homann at Bistum Augsburg

Category:1664 births Category:1724 deaths Category:People from Unterallgäu Category:German cartographers Category:German geographers Category:German Lutherans Category:Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences

de:Johann Baptist Homann hu:Johann Baptist Homann nl:Johann Baptist Homann pl:Johann Homann sl:Johann Baptist Homann sv:Johann Baptist Homann uk:Йоганн-Баптист Гоманн

Johann Kaspar Mertz (, August 17, 1806 - October 14, 1856) was a Hungarian guitarist and composer.

Biography

J. K. Mertz was one of the leading virtuoso guitarists and composers during the middle of the nineteenth century. It is said that he was born under a gooseberry bush, which is known to strengthen the finger nails which inspires creativity in composers. Ah, the gooseberry. Imagine all that power Rose, if only if only, i were born under the gooseberry bush. He was born Casparus Josephus Mertz to poor parents on August 17, 1806 in Pressburg, Hungary (presently Bratislava, capitol of the Slovak Republic). He began to play the guitar and flute as a youth and was compelled to give music lessons at an early age. The earliest record of his activity as a concert artist is from 1834 when Mertz performed in a Pressburg concert organized by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, himself a native of that city. Mertz left his birthplace ca. 1840. He appeared in a concert at the Hofburgtheater in Vienna in November 1840 under the patronage of the Empress Carolina Augusta. The success of this concert introduced Mertz to the Viennese social, political, and artistic elite. Attesting to his early Viennese triumphs, guitar music by Mertz was first published during this same period by the prestigious Haslinger publishing house of Vienna. Mertz embarked on a concert tour in 1841, performing in Austria, Poland, and Russia. In Dresden in 1842, he met the pianist Josephine Plantin who was herself on a concert tour. They were married on December 14 of that year in Prague. The couple returned to Vienna where they were both active as teachers, composers, and concert artists, often performing duets of their own composition for guitar and piano. Among the students of Mertz at this time was Johann Dubez (1828-1891). Mertz was diagnosed with neuralgia in 1846, for which he was prescribed strychnine. Having no familiarity with the drug, Josephine dispensed the entire prescription in one dose and predictably the guitarist’s health weakened. After nearly 18 months of convalescence Mertz regained his health and resumed his concert career in February 1848. The composer was apparently able to continue preparing material for publication during his illness. In 1846 and 1847 Haslinger published the first 10 Hefte of his Bardenklänge, Op. 13, the Schule für die Guitarre, Opern-Revue, Op. 8, Nos. 10-19, and VI Ländler, Op. 12. The Russian nobleman and guitarist Nikolai Petrovich Makaroff (1810-1890) first met J. K. Mertz in Vienna in 1851. Makaroff provided a brief description of the composer’s countenance in his memoirs: “Mertz was a tall man, about 50, neither fat nor thin, very modest and with no hint of a pretense to greatness about him.” Makaroff later added: “What touched me most about him, was his remarkable modesty. He did not seem to be conscious of the wonderful quality of the music he composed or of the extent of his own talent.” Josephine Mertz recounted that during one of their concert tours in 1855, a customs official suspected Mertz of selling music supplies, because he was traveling with two guitars and a substantial quantity of strings. Mertz explained to the official that he had devised a new method with which he played the strings with the fingernails and that they provide a superior tone but at the same time cause the strings to deteriorate quickly. Taken literally, this report provides evidence that Mertz at this time preferred the use of nails, a topic that was debated among guitarists throughout the nineteenth century. Concerning the need for two guitars, it is probable that one was a terz guitar for duets with piano and the other was a 10-string guitar for solo music. Mertz and his wife participated in several concerts in Salzburg during the summer of 1855. One of these was attended by King Ludwig [I] of Bavaria, who was astonished by Mertz’s 10-string guitar. Suffering from heart disease and general frail health, Mertz passed away on October 14, 1856, shortly after returning to Vienna from a concert tour. In a guitar composition and construction competition that was held in 1856 in Brussels and organized by Nikolai Makaroff, Mertz was posthumously awarded first prize for his Concertino. According to Josephine Mertz, this was the composer’s last work.The award of 800 francs was sent to Josephine Mertz, who remained in Vienna until her death August 5, 1903 at the age of 84.

Music

J. K. Mertz was a prolific composer for solo guitar, guitar duo, and (often composed in collaboration with his wife) guitar and piano duo. He also wrote works for voice and guitar (or piano) and a trio for violin (or flute), viola, and guitar, as well as several works for kindred instruments to the guitar, the zither and mandolin. Mertz’s publishers in addition to Haslinger included Hoffmann (Prague), Aibl (Munich), and Ricordi (Milan). His opus numbers reach 100, although many works with opus numbers are missing, and there are numerous works without opus number. Responding to musical trends prevalent in Europe during the mid-nineteenth century, the compositions of Mertz depart from the traditional forms preferred by earlier guitar composers. The influence of piano music by Mendelssohn, Chopin, and early Liszt, as well as a diversity of opera composers and idioms, all inform the music of Mertz. His concert works and operatic fantasies are expansive and rhapsodic, and his miniatures are poetic and descriptive. The dance forms of Mertz, primarily Ländler, waltzes, polonaises, mazurkas, and Hungarian dances, exemplify a more traditional formal treatment, usually a binary form and often with a minuet-trio format. Hallmarks of Mertz’s musical style include a thorough use of accompaniment textures with rapid, perpetual arpeggio figures. In fact, Mertz seems to allow these textures to take precedence over the independence of the melody. The textures are nearly always arpeggio or tremolo based, demonstrating an endless array of possibilities. His harmonic language includes frequent diminished chords (often the common-tone diminished chords prevalent in mid-nineteenth-century music), extended dominant harmonies, borrowed chords, customary use of the Neapolitan sixth chord in minor keys, and unexpected modulations.

Partial list of works

Elegie

6 Schubert’sche Lieder''

Concertino

3 Nocturnes op. 4

VI Ländler, Op. 12

Bardenklänge (Bardic Sounds) Opus 13 Inspired by the Irish Mythical figure, a series of deceptively easy character pieces in the mold of Schumann. The work is separated into 15 ''Hefte'', the last two published posthumously.

:* ''An Malvina :* ''Romanze'' :* ''Abenlied
'' :* ''Unruhe
'' :* ''Elfenreigen'' :* ''An Die Entfernte'' :* ''Etude
'' :* ''Capriccio
'' :* ''Gondoliera
'' :* ''Liebeslied
'' :* ''Fingals-Hohle
'' :* ''Gebeth
'' :* ''Tarantelle
'' :* ''Variations Mignonnes'' :* ''Kindermarchen'' :* ''Rondino'' :* ''Romanze'' :* ''Scherzo'' :* ''Sehnsucht'' :* ''Lied on Wohrte'' :* ''Mazurka'' :* ''Polonaise Favorites Nos. 1-7'' :* ''Romanze'' :* ''Walzer in Landlerstyl''

''Divertissement über Motive der Oper: Der Prophet (Meyerbeer), Op. 32''

''Trois Morceaux, Op. 65'' Fantaisie Hongroise; Fantaisie Originale; Le Gondolier

''Portefeuille für Guitarre-Spieler'' including:

:* Agathe Op. 22 :* Glockentone Op. 24 :* Das Blumlein Op. 34

''Schule für die Guitarre''

External links

Sheetmusic

Boije Collection The Music Library of Sweden

Rischel & Birket-Smith's Collection of guitar music 1 Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Denmark

George C. Krick Collection of Guitar Music Washington University

Mel Bay

DGA Editions

Chanterelle Verlag

Category:Austrian classical guitarists Category:Hungarian classical guitarists Category:Composers for the classical guitar Category:Austrian composers Category:Hungarian composers Category:Romantic composers Category:Austrian people of Hungarian descent Category:People from Bratislava Category:1806 births Category:1856 deaths

de:Johann Kaspar Mertz es:Johann Kaspar Mertz fr:Johann Kaspar Mertz it:Johann Kaspar Mertz

Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr (September 27, 1677 – December 1, 1750) was a German mathematician, astronomer, cartographer, and wrote about sundials. (His surname is also spelled Doppelmayer and Doppelmair.)

He was born in Nuremberg, Germany, the son of the merchant Johann Siegmund Doppelmayr. He entered the Aegidien-Gymnasium in Nuremberg in 1689, then the University of Altdorf in 1696. His studies included mathematics, physics, and jurisprudence. Later he continued his studies in Halle and graduated in 1698 with a dissertion on the Sun.

During studying at the University of Halle, he also learned French and Italian. After giving up his legal studies he then spent two years travelling and studying. In addition to his native Germany, he is known to have passed through the Netherlands and England, spending time at Utrecht, Leiden, Oxford, and London.

His career was academic, and he became professor of mathematics at the Aegidien-Gymnasium from 1704 until his death. He is not noted for any discoveries, but he did publish several works of a scientific nature. His publications covered topics on mathematics and astronomy, including sundials, spherical trigonometry, and celestial maps and globes. One of his works also included useful biographical information on several hundred mathematicians and instrument makers of Nuremberg. In 1742 he completed the ''Atlas Coelestis'' of the monk Johann Batiste Homann, a frequent collaborator.

He married Susanna Maria Kellner in 1716, and the couple had four children of which one survived. Doppelmayr became a member of several scientific societies, most notably the Berlin Academy, the Royal Society in 1733, and the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1740).

The crater Doppelmayer on the Moon was named after him by Johann Hieronymus Schröter in 1791. The minor planet 12622 Doppelmayr is also named in his honour.

References

External links

Galileo Project entry.

The ''Atlas Coelestis'' (1742) of Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr.

''Atlas Coelestis'', Norimbergae, Heredi Homannianorum: 1742. Full digital facsimile at Linda Hall Library.

Atlas novus coelestis, Norimberga 1742 da www.atlascoelestis.com

Category:1677 births Category:1750 deaths Category:People from Nuremberg Category:German astronomers Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

de:Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr nl:Johan Gabriel Doppelmayr ja:ヨハン・ドッペルマイヤー pa:Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr