- Jan Køtitel Vaòhal (1739-1813) grew up in the Czech countryside but obtained his higher musical education in Vienna and Italy. His chamber works, symphonies and instrumental concertos in sophisticated Classical style were performed successfully in the 1760s and 1770s alongside the works of Haydn. His development as a composer of considerable originality was undermined by mental illness. From about the mid-1780s his attention was directed to smaller, lighter or educational pieces. He played an important role in the development of the organ fugue in that he simplified its polyphony and adapted it to the stylish Classicist mode. Among 30 of his compositions which appeared in print are fugues not only with the character of a dance, scherzo, a march etc. but also of a pastoral nature.
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