Peter Winter facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Peter Winter
Peter von Winter, portrayed by Heinrich Eduard Winter in 1815
Born	Mannheim
Baptised	28 August 1754 (1754-08-28)
Died	17 October 1825(1825-10-17) (aged 71) Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria
Other names	Peter von Winter
Occupation	Violinist Conductor Composer Voice teacher
Organization	Mannheim court orchestra Munich court opera

Peter Winter, also known as Peter von Winter, was a talented German musician. He was born on August 28, 1754, and passed away on October 17, 1825. He was a skilled violinist, a conductor, and a composer, especially famous for his operas.

Peter started his music career playing in the court orchestra in Mannheim. A court orchestra was a group of musicians who played for a king or a prince. He later became a conductor, leading the orchestra. When the court moved to Munich, he went with them. There, he became the kapellmeister (music director) for the opera.

Some of his well-known operas include Das Labyrinth. This opera was a sequel, or a follow-up story, to Mozart's famous Die Zauberflöte. Das Labyrinth was first performed in Vienna in 1798. Another important opera was Maometto, which premiered in Milan in 1817. People often see Peter Winter's music as a link between the styles of two other great composers: Mozart and Weber.

Peter Winter's Music Career

Peter Winter was born in Mannheim, a city in Germany. He was a child prodigy on the violin. This means he was incredibly talented at playing the violin from a very young age. He started playing in the Mannheim court orchestra when he was just ten years old. He played both the violin and the double bass.

He learned to play the violin from Wilhelm Cramer and Thaddäus Hampel. Later, he studied how to compose music with Georg Joseph Vogler. In 1776, Peter officially joined the orchestra as a violinist. He also started conducting, or leading, the orchestra in 1777.

When the court moved to Munich in 1778, Peter went with them. He became the conductor of the orchestra there. This is where he first met the famous composer Mozart. In the same year, he married Marianne Grosser.

In 1781 and 1782, Peter traveled to Vienna to study music with Antonio Salieri. He met Mozart again during this time. After his studies, he became the director of the court theater in Munich. This is when he began writing music for the stage, like ballets and melodramas. A melodrama is a play where music is used to make the story more emotional.

Peter was promoted to vice kapellmeister in 1787. He became the main kapellmeister in 1798. He held this important position for most of his life.

Peter Winter's Operas

Peter Winter composed more than thirty operas between 1778 and 1820. Most of them were very successful! His most popular work was Das unterbrochene Opferfest (The interrupted sacrificial feast). It was performed in Vienna in 1796 and made him well-known as an opera composer.

He wrote two operas with stories by Emanuel Schikaneder. One was Die Pyramiden von Babylon. The other was Das Labyrinth, oder Der Kampf mit den Elementen. This opera was a sequel to Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. It first opened at the Theater auf der Wieden on June 12, 1798.

Peter returned to Munich in 1798. Five years later, he visited London. There, he created several successful operas:

• La grotta di Calipso (1803)
• Il ratto di Proserpina (1804)
• Zaira (1805)

The stories for La grotta di Calipso and Il ratto di Proserpina were written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Peter's opera Maometto, composed in 1817, was first performed at La Scala in Milan. Sometimes, this opera is still performed today. His last opera, Der Sänger und der Schneider, premiered in Munich in 1820. His operas were also performed in other big cities like Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, and Moscow.

In 1811, Peter Winter started the Musikalische Akademie in Munich. This was a music association that is still remembered today by the Akademiekonzerte of the Bavarian State Orchestra. Besides his stage works, he also composed concertos for wind instruments and orchestra. From 1820, he began composing sacred music, which is music for religious services. He also taught singing lessons and published a book called Vollständige Singschule (Complete school of singing) in 1825.

Peter Winter was honored for his work and was knighted on March 23, 1814. He passed away in Munich when he was 71 years old.

List of Operas

See also

In Spanish: Peter von Winter para niños