Felix Horetzky Explained

Felix Horetzky (originally: Feliks Horecki) (1 January 1796 – 6 October 1870) was a Polish guitarist, teacher and composer who spent most of his life in the United Kingdom.[1]

Life

Horecki was born in Horyszów Ruski, Lublin Voivodeship, Habsburg Monarchy. He came to Warsaw in 1815 to become a civil servant in the Treasury Commission, which he soon gave up to pursue a musical career. He became a pupil of Mauro Giuliani in Vienna where he stayed for one year. To finance tuition and accommodation, he began to teach and counted members of the imperial court among his pupils. He apparently performed in public with both Giuliani and Anton Diabelli.[2] After his year in Vienna he toured and successfully concertized in Germany, Belgium and France,[3] among other places living in Frankfurt from Summer 1824 to December 1825 and giving a concert in Paris in April 1826.[4]

Horetzky was probably resident in the British Isles from 1827.[5] He again spent several years touring cities in England and spent several years in Dublin, Ireland.[6] From there he moved to Edinburgh, Scotland around 1838 where he spent most of his life. Edinburgh post office directories list his address at 7 Scotland Street for the years 1839 to 1863.[7] His death certificate in Edinburgh where he died, aged 74, gives 12 Clarence Street as his last address.[8] During all these years he regularly performed in other British cities and was friendly with, among others, Leonard Schulz, with whom he performed in a duo and who dedicated his Grand Fantasia, Op. 48 to Horetzky's wife.[9] Together with Schulz and Ferdinand Pelzer, Horetzky was a co-editor of La Giulianiad, the world's first journal devoted exclusively to the guitar.

One of Horetzky's most prominent pupils in Edinburgh was the Polish guitarist Stanislaw Szczepanowski (c.1814–1877).

Music

Horetzky is said to have written about 150 works for the guitar (Bone 1914/54), but this seems unlikely, at least in terms of opus numbers. Button's (1984) statement, "Horetzky played, taught and composed in a similar manner to that of Giuliani, and in this respect his contributions were limited" should be refuted since Giuliani stands clearly in a Viennese classical tradition whereas the influence of the more modern Romantic style is much in evidence with Horetzky from as early as the Amusemens, Op. 18.

However, Horetzky has written but few large-scale pieces and rather excelled in miniatures. His larger works such as the Fantasia, Op. 40 are written as a theme with variations as were numerous works of the time.

Selected works

Guitar solo

Guitar duos

Songs with guitar accompaniment

Recordings

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Józef Powroźniak: Gitarren-Lexikon (Berlin: Verlag Neue Musik, 1979; third edition, 1986), p. 101–102.
  2. Philip J. Bone: The Guitar and Mandolin. Biographies of Celebrated Players and Composers (London: Schott & Co., 1914; second edition, 1954), p. 169.
  3. Powroźniak (1986), p. 101.
  4. Axel Beer, entry in Musik und Musiker am Mittelrhein 2
  5. Stewart Button: The Guitar in England, 1800–1924 (PhD thesis, University of Surrey, 1984), p. 98. This revises earlier assumptions by Bone, who writes "just previous to 1820", see Bone (1914/54), p. 169, and Powroźniak (1979/86), who gives "around 1820".
  6. Powroźniak (1986), p. 101.
  7. Button (1984), p. 99.
  8. Button (1984), p. 99.
  9. Gerhard Penn, booklet notes to Harald Stampa plays Leonard Schulz, KSGEXAUDIO 67043, CD, 2020.

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