STAMITZ, JOHANN WENZL ANTON the eldest and most important of a family of Bohemian musicians famous in the 18th century. He was born at Deutschbrod on June 19, 1 7 17. He was a solo violinist at the coronation. of the emperor Charles VII. (1742), and in 1745 the elector took him to Mann heim as director of the chamber of music. Stamitz and his suc cessors are known as the Mannheim school. Although Phillip Emanuel Bach in Berlin and the young school in Vienna were arriving at similar results, it seems certain that Stamitz was the real pioneer, who not only demonstrated the dramatic value of the "working-out" section of the first movement of a sonata or sym phony, but, by incorporating the minuet, definitely established the four-movement form. In addition he demanded of the orchestra a greater independence from the different instruments, singling out the much neglected viola. He died at Mannheim on March 3o, 1757. His works include 27 concertos, sonatas and solos for violin; several sets of symphonies, and harpsichord music. Johann's brother ANTON THADDAEUS STAMITZ (1721-1768) was a 'cellist at Mannheim.
Much confusion has arisen between Johann and his eldest son CARL STAMITZ (1746-1801), who sometimes used the name Johann, while the father was frequently called Johann Carl or Carl Johann. He produced an opera, Der verliebte Vormund, at Frankfurt and another, Dardanus, in St. Petersburg. He died at Jena in 1801. His more elaborated 70 symphonies are chiefly written for larger orchestras than his father's.
An introduction with details of the family, by Hugo Riemann, is included, together with a thematic catalogue of 45 symphonies and I Q orchestral trios, in Series III. i. of Denkmerler deutscher Tonkunst in Bayern, and other compositions of Johann and Carl are found in Series VII. i., XV. and XVI. of the same work. See also Grove, Dic tionary of Music and Musicians; Riemann, Lexikon; Eitner, Quellen Lexikon; R. Sondheimer, Die formale Entwicklung der vorklassischen Sinfonie (Allgem. Musikztg. Jan. 1922) ; P. Bekker, Musikgeschichte (1926) p. 126 et seq.