Bach Kuhnau

It was Christoph Graupner who was selected as the Thomaskantor in Leipzig after Johannes Kuhnau, and it was only the fact that Graupners patron in Darmstadt did not let him go that Johann Sebastian Bach got the job! In fact Graupner was the more famous and more modern composer during those years, yet history almost forgot him for more than two centuries even having composed five times as many cantatas as Bach. An important and highly praised step in the re-discovery or Graupners music was already presented by the soprano Miriam Feuersinger and her ECHO Klassik awarded debut release on Christophorus together with the Capricornus Consort Basel. She is now joined by countertenor Franz Vitzthum for a new album of duo cantatas. This is music of great depth, with the two voices blending so well that sometimes they seem just one.

Sebastian Knüpfer is yet another Baroque composer whose reputation and popularity have been overshadowed by J S Bach. Little of Knüpfer’s music has previously been transcribed from its many manuscripts, let alone published. However, in his day Knüpfer was a respected and highly soughtafter composer; his compositions were admired by his contemporaries and, according to his obituary, he ‘composed quotations of the Psalms and other Biblical books with such sweetness and skilfulness that he delighted even the saddest hearts, and his name is spoken with admiration not only in Leipzig but also outside’.

Christoph Graupner was born Kirchberg, Saxony. Due to an unfortunate combination of circumstances his work has fallen into almost total oblivion, yet he was one of the most important composers of his time. He spent nearly 50 years of his life at the Court of Darmstadt, as Hoffkapellmeister. Among his friends and admirers were the composers Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Mattheson, and Johann Friedrich Fasch, who was also his pupil. Thanks to his studies in Leipzig, from childhood on Graupner was in contact with musical contemporaries, including Johann Schelle and Johann Kuhnau, predecessors of Johann Sebastian Bach at the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas church).

Heinichen was a German composer who received his education at the Thomasschule in Leipzig, where Johann Sebastian Bach was later to teach, serving as assistant to the then cantor, Kuhnau, and proceeding thereafter to the University of Leipzig. After an initial career as a lawyer inWeissenfels, Heinichen returned to musical activity in Leipzig, followed by a period of work and study in Italy. In 1717 he was appointed Court Kapellmeister in Dresden, a position he retained until his death in 1729. Heinichen wrote operas in the earlier part of his career and moved to Italy with the express purpose of studying the art of Italian opera at its source. In addition to opera, his works include instrumental music, serenades, pieces for voices and instruments as well as church music.

Johann Friedrich Fasch was a contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach, and that has seriously hampered the interest in his music. It was the German musicologist Hugo Riemann, who at the beginning of the 20th century made an attempt to restore his reputation.

The Thomaskantor position in Leipzig was one of the most important jobs for musicians in Germany in the 18th century; several important musicians applied to succeed Johann Kuhnau after his death in 1722. In the recruitment process, the Leipzig city council was able to choose from the most famous personalities of the time. The first choice was Georg Philipp Telemann, who declined however, after he had obtained a decent salary increase at his Hamburg post.

Johann Friedrich Fasch was a contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach, and that has seriously hampered the interest in his music. It was the German musicologist Hugo Riemann, who at the beginning of the 20th century made an attempt to restore his reputation.