Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer
Portrait by Georg Desmarées
Born	(1692-10-30)30 October 1692 Delden, Netherlands
Died	9 November 1766(1766-11-09) (aged 74) The Hague, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Occupation	Diplomat, composer, and administrator
Known for	Concerti Armonici

Unico Wilhelm, Count van Wassenaer Obdam (born October 30, 1692 – died November 9, 1766) was a Dutch nobleman. He was known as a diplomat (someone who represents their country) and a talented composer (someone who writes music). He helped organize the Bailiwick of Utrecht of the Teutonic Order, which was a group with a long history.

His most famous musical works are the Concerti Armonici. For a long time, people thought these pieces were written by other composers, like Giovanni Battista Pergolesi or Carlo Ricciotti. But in 1980, it was finally proven that Unico Wilhelm wrote them!

Early Life and Family History

Unico Wilhelm was born into a very important and wealthy family called the House of Wassenaer. His family had a long history of powerful people.

His grandfather, Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam, was a top commander of the Dutch navy. He sadly died in a battle in 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Unico Wilhelm's father, Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam (younger), was an army general. He later became a diplomat, just like his son.

Unico Wilhelm was born at his family's castle, Twickel, near Delden, on October 30, 1692. His parents were Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam and Adriana Sophia Raesfelt. He grew up in The Hague, a big city in the Netherlands. There, he learned to play musical instruments like the harpsichord and the violin.

From 1707 to 1709, he lived with his father and three sisters in Düsseldorf, Germany. They were at the court of Johann Wilhelm, a powerful ruler. The music at this court was very influenced by Italian styles, which helped Unico Wilhelm develop his own musical skills.

In 1710, Unico Wilhelm started studying law at the University of Leiden. He took a break from his studies in 1711 to attend the coronation of Emperor Charles VI in Frankfurt. After finishing his studies in 1713, he traveled quite a bit. He visited France and Italy in 1717–1718, which was a common "grand tour" for young noblemen back then.

In 1723, Unico Wilhelm married Dodonea Lucia van Goslinga. They had three children together.

His Important Jobs

When his father passed away in 1714, Unico Wilhelm inherited the large Twickel estate. A few years later, he became a knight of Overijssel, which was an important title in that region.

He lived in Overijssel for a few years, but then moved to Holland for new jobs. He became a water manager for the Rhineland area in 1723. He also worked as an advisor to the Admiralty (which managed the navy) and became a governor of the Dutch East India Company. These jobs kept him busy in and around The Hague.

After his older brother died in 1745, Unico Wilhelm moved into the main Van Wassenaer family house in The Hague. A year later, he was accepted into the Dutch knighthood. Even with all his jobs, he still spent time at his Twickel estate. In 1726, he even had maps made of his property.

Unico Wilhelm also served as a diplomat for his country. In 1744, he was sent to the French court. He also visited the court of Clemens August, a powerful ruler in Germany, in 1744 and 1745. He went back to France in 1746 and then to Breda for more talks with the French. Even though he was smart, being a diplomat wasn't always easy for him.

He was also a commander in the Bailiwick of Utrecht of the Teutonic Order. This was a very old and respected organization. He helped make many improvements to how it was run. In 1761, he became the main Commander of the order.

Unico Wilhelm passed away in The Hague on November 9, 1766.

His Music

Unico Wilhelm wrote his six Concerti Armonici between 1725 and 1740, while he was living in The Hague.

These Concerti armonici were first published in 1740 without his name on them. Later, in 1755, they were printed in London and said to be by a violinist named Carlo Ricciotti. However, it was later discovered that Ricciotti didn't actually write any music.

The concertos were dedicated to Unico Wilhelm's friend, Count Willem Bentinck. The slow parts of these concertos are especially beautiful and expressive.

For a long time, people mistakenly thought the famous Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi wrote these concertos. The style of the music is very Italian, similar to works by composers like Pietro Locatelli.

But then, in 1979–1980, something amazing happened! A handwritten copy of the six concerti was found at Twickel Castle, the very castle where Van Wassenaer was born. This manuscript was titled "Concerti Armonici." Even though Unico Wilhelm didn't write the music himself, the manuscript had an introduction written in his own handwriting. It said: "Score of my concerts engraved by Mr. Ricciotti."

Thanks to the research of a Dutch music expert named Albert Dunning, there is now no doubt that Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer was indeed the true composer of these works.

Dunning shared the composer's own words from the introduction: "Score of my concertos, engraved by Signor Ricciotti. These concertos were composed at different times between 1725 and 1740. When they were ready, I took them along to the musical gathering organized in The Hague by Mr Bentinck, myself and some foreign gentlemen.

Ricciotti played the first violin. Afterwards I allowed him to make a copy of the concertos. When all six were ready, he asked permission to have them engraved. Upon my refusal he enlisted the aid of Mr Bentinck, to whose strong representations I finally acquiesced, on condition that my name did not appear anywhere on the copy and that he put his name to it, as he did. Mr Bentinck wanted to dedicate them to me; I refused absolutely, after which he told Ricciotti to dedicate them to him. In this way these concertos were published against my wishes.

Some of them are tolerable, some middling, others wretched. Had they not been published, I would perhaps have corrected the mistakes in them, but other business has left me no leisure to amuse myself with them, and I would have caused their editor offence."

One of his pieces, Concerto Armonico No. 2, was even used by the famous composer Igor Stravinsky. Stravinsky used parts of it for his ballet called Pulcinella. At the time, Stravinsky thought the music was by Pergolesi.

Besides the Concerti Armonici, three sonatas for recorder and continuo (a type of musical accompaniment) were also found in the early 1990s.