Danzi Duo #1 in C major Pikler/Stucka Duo Charles Pikler, viola Gary Stucka, Cello

Duo # 1 in C major for Viola and Cello by Franz Ignaz Danzi Charles Pikler, viola Gary Stucka, cello recorded in December 1982 Allegro Andante con moto Allegretto Franz Ignaz Danzi, born on 15, June 1763, was a German cellist, composer and conductor, the son of the Italian cellist Innocenz Danzi (1730–1798) and brother of the noted singer Franziska Danzi. Born in Schwetzingen Germany and raised in Mannheim, Danzi studied with his father and with Georg Joseph Vogler before he joined the superlative orchestra of the Elector Karl Theodor in 1778 as a teenager. In his youth he knew Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whom he revered; he was a contemporary of Ludwig van Beethoven, about whom he — like many of his generation — had strong but mixed feelings and he was a mentor for the young Carl Maria von Weber, whose music he respected and promoted. He was a first-rate cellist as well as a conscientious and — by all reports — effective orchestra leader and conductor. Danzi is known today chiefly for his woodwind quintets. He composed in most major genres of the time, including opera, church music, orchestral works, and many varieties of chamber music. Danzi composed at least four duos for viola and cello and possibly as may as six. This particular work is the first of them and exhibits one of the best efforts by any composer to write a virtuoso duo for the combination of viola and cello. Danzi died on April 13, 1826 in Karlsruhe, at the age of 62. Charles Pikler and Gary Stucka are retired members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and both were engaged years ago by the late Sir Georg Solti. However, it should be noted that Gary Stucka was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra under the newly designated German conductor Christoph von Dohnányi at the time of this recording. Incidentally, Charles Pikler was also a member of the Cleveland Orchestra's second violin section (1974-1976) under Maestro Lorin Maazel.