Wenceslaus Wodiczka

Wenceslas Wodiczka, also known as Wenzl and, in its Czech form, Václav Vodička, was a violinist and composer of Bohemian origin who spent much of his career at the electoral court of Bavaria in Munich. He was born in Bohemia around 1715-1720, and his exact date of birth is not fixed. He died in Munich, where he was buried on 1 July 1774.

Before reaching the court, he was a serf in Bohemia to Count Franz Xaver Wieznik, to whom, according to tradition, he offered a valuable team of horses in exchange for his freedom; the episode survives as an anecdote, without documentary confirmation. In 1732 he entered the service of Elector Karl Albrecht of Bavaria, the future Emperor Charles VII, as a violinist with a salary of 380 florins, a sum that rose to 500 in 1738. In 1739 he obtained in Paris a privilege to publish his Sei sonate, op. 1. His position rose rapidly: in 1745 he received the title of gentleman of the chamber to Princess Maria Anna Carolina, the elector's sister, and in 1747, under Maximilian III Joseph, he was appointed Konzertmeister and electoral councillor. He taught the violinists of the Seminarium Gregorianum in Munich and in 1749 was one of the founders of the Cecilian Brotherhood of court musicians.

As a composer, he cultivated almost exclusively instrumental music. His violin sonatas show a characteristic fondness for the minuet and the siciliana, and they sit between the Baroque and the early Classical style. Of the 48 symphonies he wrote for the court church, 24 survive. He also published a violin method in Amsterdam in 1757. His wife, the soprano Maria Johann Brentani, served at the court from 1735 until 1778, and their daughter Walburga sang in court operas. His legacy survives above all in his sonatas and symphonies, a testament to the musical life of the Bavarian court in the eighteenth century.