Alexander Ferdinand Grychtolik
Encyclopedia
Alexander Ferdinand Grychtolik (born 6 September 1980 in Berlin) is a German harpsichord
ist, improviser
, musicologist
and academic.
Prize in 2005. He studied the harpsichord with Bernhard Klapprott and with Frédérick Haas at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels
. He also studied architecture
at Bauhaus-University Weimar, where he published an article about the concert halls of the GDR.
Grychtolik has concertised at several European early music
festivals. He has lectured at various conservatories such as Frankfurt
and taught Baroque
improvisation
at the Hochschule für Musik "Franz Liszt", Weimar, the first such teaching position in Germany.
He specializes in the field of early music, Baroque improvisation and composition. He has reconstructed various vocal works of Johann Sebastian Bach
which have received much attention. He edited Bach's St. Mark Passion
(performed in 1744) as a stylistically consistent reconstruction, published by Edition Peters
. This work was lost, the last known copy having burned in 1945. It was completely reconstructed by Grychtolik. He edited a first reconstruction of the funeral cantata
Klagt, Kinder, klagt es aller Welt, BWV 244a
, also called Köthener Trauermusik, which Bach used as the base for his St Matthew Passion. Bach's O angenehme Melodei, BWV 210a
, only survives as a fragment. However, because Bach used it for his wedding cantata
O holder Tag, erwünschte Zeit, BWV 210
, it was possible to reconstruct the piece. Grychtolik's work makes it possible to perform the cantata in concert.
The reconstruction of Bach's St. Mark Passion was first performed on 1 April 2007 as part of the festival Thüringer Bachwochen (Thuringia's Weeks of Bach) in Weimar's Herderkirche , where several of Bach's children were baptized. Klaus-Jürgen Teutschbein conducted; Grychtolik played the harpsichord. It was again performed in the St. Jakobskirche in Köthen, where Bach once lived and worked, as part of its 23rd Bach Festival (Köthener Bachfesttage). The day before the concert, Grychtolik participated in a panel discussion and had to answer questions about his Bach "parody" from Bach experts who are critical of his efforts.
The Köthener Trauermusik was performed in March 2010 by the Lautten Compagney in the Sophienkirche Berlin
and the Kammermusiksaal of the Deutschlandfunk
in Cologne and later broadcast on radio. A performance on 11 May 2010 was aired by Austrian broadcaster ORF
.
Grychtolik is married to the harpsichordist Aleksandra Magdalena Grychtolik, with whom he has appeared in concert.
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
ist, improviser
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
, musicologist
Musicology
Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...
and academic.
Professional career
Grychtolik graduated from the Hochschule für Musik "Franz Liszt", Weimar, where he began research and work on his idea that it would be possible to digitally reconstruct selected works from Bach's Weimar period, creating a historical concert in a virtual church. Grychtolik received the school's Franz LisztFranz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
Prize in 2005. He studied the harpsichord with Bernhard Klapprott and with Frédérick Haas at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels
Royal Conservatory of Brussels
The Royal Conservatory of Brussels is a drama and music college in Brussels, Belgium. An academy for acting and the arts, it has been attended by many of the top actors and actresses in Belgium such as Josse De Pauw, Luk van Mello and Luk De Konink....
. He also studied architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
at Bauhaus-University Weimar, where he published an article about the concert halls of the GDR.
Grychtolik has concertised at several European early music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
festivals. He has lectured at various conservatories such as Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and taught Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
at the Hochschule für Musik "Franz Liszt", Weimar, the first such teaching position in Germany.
He specializes in the field of early music, Baroque improvisation and composition. He has reconstructed various vocal works of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
which have received much attention. He edited Bach's St. Mark Passion
St Mark Passion (Bach)
The St Mark Passion , BWV 247, is a lost Passion setting by Johann Sebastian Bach, first performed in Leipzig on Good Friday, 23 March 1731 and again on Good Friday 1744 in a revised version...
(performed in 1744) as a stylistically consistent reconstruction, published by Edition Peters
Edition Peters
Edition Peters, also known as C.F.Peters Musikverlag, is a German music publishing house, founded in Leipzig in 1800.From the 1860s it was largely run by members the Hinrichsen family, who were Jewish. The company was confiscated by the Nazis and administered by the "Trustee of Jewish Property"....
. This work was lost, the last known copy having burned in 1945. It was completely reconstructed by Grychtolik. He edited a first reconstruction of the funeral cantata
Bach cantata
Bach cantata became a term for a cantata of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was a prolific writer of the genre. Although many of his works are lost, around 200 cantatas survived....
Klagt, Kinder, klagt es aller Welt, BWV 244a
Klagt, Kinder, klagt es aller Welt, BWV 244a
The funeral cantata Klagt, Kinder, klagt es aller Welt, BWV 244a, also called Köthener Trauermusik, is a lost composition of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Trauermusik was composed for the memorial service for Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen on 24 March 1729 in the St. Jakob church in Köthen, one day...
, also called Köthener Trauermusik, which Bach used as the base for his St Matthew Passion. Bach's O angenehme Melodei, BWV 210a
O angenehme Melodei, BWV 210a
O angenehme Melodei , BWV 210a, is a secular cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote the solo cantata for soprano in Leipzig as a "Huldigungskantate" for Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, first performed on 12 January 1729, and dedicated it at least twice to different people and occasions...
, only survives as a fragment. However, because Bach used it for his wedding cantata
Bach cantata
Bach cantata became a term for a cantata of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was a prolific writer of the genre. Although many of his works are lost, around 200 cantatas survived....
O holder Tag, erwünschte Zeit, BWV 210
O holder Tag, erwünschte Zeit, BWV 210
O holder Tag, erwünschte Zeit , BWV 210, is a secular cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote the solo cantata for soprano in Leipzig for a wedding, first performed between 1738 and 1746...
, it was possible to reconstruct the piece. Grychtolik's work makes it possible to perform the cantata in concert.
The reconstruction of Bach's St. Mark Passion was first performed on 1 April 2007 as part of the festival Thüringer Bachwochen (Thuringia's Weeks of Bach) in Weimar's Herderkirche , where several of Bach's children were baptized. Klaus-Jürgen Teutschbein conducted; Grychtolik played the harpsichord. It was again performed in the St. Jakobskirche in Köthen, where Bach once lived and worked, as part of its 23rd Bach Festival (Köthener Bachfesttage). The day before the concert, Grychtolik participated in a panel discussion and had to answer questions about his Bach "parody" from Bach experts who are critical of his efforts.
The Köthener Trauermusik was performed in March 2010 by the Lautten Compagney in the Sophienkirche Berlin
Sophienkirche (Berlin)
The Sophienkirche is a Protestant church in the Spandauer Vorstadt part of the Berlin-Mitte region of Berlin, eastern Germany. One of its associated cemeteries is the Friedhof II der Sophiengemeinde Berlin.-History:...
and the Kammermusiksaal of the Deutschlandfunk
Deutschlandfunk
Deutschlandfunk is a German public broadcasting radio station, broadcasting national news and current affairs.-History:Broadcasting in the Federal Republic of Germany is reserved under the Basic Law to the states. This means that all public broadcasting is regionalised...
in Cologne and later broadcast on radio. A performance on 11 May 2010 was aired by Austrian broadcaster ORF
ORF (broadcaster)
Österreichischer Rundfunk, ORF, is the Austrian national public service broadcaster.Funded from a combination of a television licence fees and revenue from limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media...
.
Grychtolik is married to the harpsichordist Aleksandra Magdalena Grychtolik, with whom he has appeared in concert.