Johann Hugo von Wilderer

Johann Hugo von Wilderer (1670 or 1671 – buried 7 June 1724) was a German Baroque composer. He was born in Bavaria and died in Mannheim, where in his later years he served as the Kapellmeister of the court orchestra. His compositions include eleven operas, two oratorios, cantatas, and sacred works.

Life and work

Wilderer was born in Bavaria. He studied with Giovanni Legrenzi in Venice. Probably in 1687 he was employed at the Palatine court in Düsseldorf as an organist. A document dated 1 October 1692 indicates that he was organist at the church St. Andreas, the court church at the time. He held the office until 1697. On the occasion of his first opera Giocasta, first performed for the opening of the opera house at the Mühlenstraße in 1696, Georg Andreas Kraft (1660-1726), a friend of Wilderer, wrote the ballet music for several of his operas, including his 1696 Giocasta. A high point in Wilderer's career was the coronation of emperor Charles VI at Frankfurt am Main in 1711, where he conducted the entire orchestra of 53 members.

At a time when European music was dominated by French and Italian artists, Wilderer gained a reputation as a German musician. His works include eleven operas (most of which were premiered in Düsseldorf), two oratorios, cantatas, motets, and other sacred works. His first opera Giocasta, was revived in Düsseldorf in 2008. Te Deum for choir, trumpets, timpani, strings and basso continuo, recorded 1980 with the Norddeutscher Figuralchor and the Neue Düsseldorfer Hofmusik, conducted by Jörg Straube