Johann Krieger
Encyclopedia
Johann Philipp Krieger was a German Baroque
composer
and organist
. He was the elder brother of Johann Krieger
.
family of rugmakers
. According to Johann Mattheson
's Grundlage einer Ehren-Pforte, Johann Philipp started studying keyboard playing at age 8, with Johann Drechsel (a pupil of the celebrated Johann Jakob Froberger
) and other instruments at around the same time, with Gabriel Schütz. He was apparently a gifted student, displaying absolute pitch
and a feeling for keyboard music: according to Mattheson, already after a year of studies he was able to impress large audiences and was composing attractive arias. Johann Philipp soon left Nuremberg for Copenhagen
, where he spent some four or five years, studying organ playing with Johann Schröder, the royal organist, and composition with Kaspar Förster
. The precise dates of his stay in Copenhagen are unknown: Mattheson reports 1665 to 1670, but Doppelmayr, author of a 1730 biographical volume on famous residents of Nuremberg, claimed Johann Philipp stayed in Copenhagen between 1663 and 1667. During his stay, whenever it occurred, Johann Philipp was offered an invitation to become organist in Christiania (now Oslo
, Norway
), which he declined.
Mattheson and Doppelmayr also differ on the details of Johann Philipp's subsequent career. He and his brother evidently spent some time in Zeitz, studying composition, and also went to Bayreuth, where Johann Philipp became court organist, and then rose to the rank of Kapellmeister, Johann succeeding him as court organist. However, the precise dates are again unknown. Doppelmayr gives 1669–70 for the Bayreuth stay, while Mattheson confusingly reports that Johann Philipp was at Zeitz in 1670–71, and at Bayreuth in 1670–72. Research has shown that the civic records of Zeitz contain no mention of either brother, and Bayreuth records list Johann Philipp as court organist in 1673, complicating the matter further.
Johann Philipp was still employed in Bayreuth in 1673, when Margrave Christian Ernst
left to fight in the Franco-Dutch War
. Following that, the composer was granted permission to travel to Italy
without loss of salary. He stayed in Venice
, studying with Johann Rosenmüller
(composition) and Giovanni Battista Volpe (keyboard), and the in Rome, where his teachers were Antonio Maria Abbatini
(composition) and Bernardo Pasquini
(keyboard and composition). In 1675 Johann Philipp went to Vienna
, then one of the most important musical capitals of Europe, where he played for Emperor Leopold I
. The Emperor was a well-known patron of the arts and a composer; upon hearing Krieger's performance, he was sufficiently impressed to ennoble him and all his brothers and sisters.
Johann Philipp later returned to Bayreuth, and shortly thereafter travelled to Frankfurt
and Kassel
. He was offered job invitations in both cities, but either declined both, or held them for a very short time. On 2 November 1677 Johann Philipp was employed as court organist at Halle
. Duke August
died in 1680 and was succeeded by his brother, Johann Adolf I
, who moved the court to Weißenfels
. Johann Philipp went with him as Kapellmeister, and this was his last position: he held it for 45 years, until his death. The court's musical establishment soon became one of Germany’s greatest. Two years after Johann Philipp moved to Weißenfels, his brother Johann moved to Zittau
, similarly to accept a position he would occupy for several decades until his death.
Johann Philipp was a prolific composer and supplied the Weißenfels court with countless sacred and secular works, including some 2000 cantatas, at least 18 operas, trio-sonatas, etc. He also had numerous works by other composers performed at the court, and kept a catalogue of every piece he performed. He actively published his own music: a set of trio sonatas appeared in 1688, to be followed by another, then a collection of music for wind instruments, etc. Unfortunately, numerous works were lost: for instance, of the 2000 cantatas only 76 are extant. This is the case with his brother's music, too: hundreds of his compositions are listed in Johann Philipp's catalogue, but very few survive. Johann Philipp died in 1725. He was succeeded as Weißenfels Kapellmeister by his son, Johann Gotthilf, until 1736.
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...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
. He was the elder brother of Johann Krieger
Johann Krieger
Johann Philipp Krieger was a German Baroque composer and organist. He was the elder brother of Johann Krieger.-Early years:...
.
Early years
The Krieger brothers came from a NurembergNuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
family of rugmakers
Rug making
Rug making is an ancient craft, and covers a variety of techniques.-Braided:Braided rugs are made by using three or more strips of fabric, usually wool, folding the raw edges to the middle and braiding them together. For an oval rug the center braid should be one inch longer than the width-length...
. According to Johann Mattheson
Johann Mattheson
Johann Mattheson was a German composer, writer, lexicographer, diplomat and music theorist.Mattheson was born and died in Hamburg. He was a close friend of George Frideric Handel, although he nearly killed him in a sudden quarrel, during a performance of Mattheson's opera Cleopatra in 1704...
's Grundlage einer Ehren-Pforte, Johann Philipp started studying keyboard playing at age 8, with Johann Drechsel (a pupil of the celebrated Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. He was among the most famous composers of the era and influenced practically every major composer in Europe by developing the genre of keyboard suite and contributing greatly to the exchange of musical...
) and other instruments at around the same time, with Gabriel Schütz. He was apparently a gifted student, displaying absolute pitch
Absolute pitch
Absolute pitch , widely referred to as perfect pitch, is the ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of an external reference.-Definition:...
and a feeling for keyboard music: according to Mattheson, already after a year of studies he was able to impress large audiences and was composing attractive arias. Johann Philipp soon left Nuremberg for Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, where he spent some four or five years, studying organ playing with Johann Schröder, the royal organist, and composition with Kaspar Förster
Kaspar Förster
Kaspar Förster was a German singer and composer.Förster studied music under his father Kaspar and then under Marco Scacchi in Warsaw...
. The precise dates of his stay in Copenhagen are unknown: Mattheson reports 1665 to 1670, but Doppelmayr, author of a 1730 biographical volume on famous residents of Nuremberg, claimed Johann Philipp stayed in Copenhagen between 1663 and 1667. During his stay, whenever it occurred, Johann Philipp was offered an invitation to become organist in Christiania (now Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
), which he declined.
Mattheson and Doppelmayr also differ on the details of Johann Philipp's subsequent career. He and his brother evidently spent some time in Zeitz, studying composition, and also went to Bayreuth, where Johann Philipp became court organist, and then rose to the rank of Kapellmeister, Johann succeeding him as court organist. However, the precise dates are again unknown. Doppelmayr gives 1669–70 for the Bayreuth stay, while Mattheson confusingly reports that Johann Philipp was at Zeitz in 1670–71, and at Bayreuth in 1670–72. Research has shown that the civic records of Zeitz contain no mention of either brother, and Bayreuth records list Johann Philipp as court organist in 1673, complicating the matter further.
Journey to Italy and later life
Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth was a member of the House of Hohenzollern and Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth....
left to fight in the Franco-Dutch War
Franco-Dutch War
The Franco-Dutch War, often called simply the Dutch War was a war fought by France, Sweden, the Bishopric of Münster, the Archbishopric of Cologne and England against the United Netherlands, which were later joined by the Austrian Habsburg lands, Brandenburg and Spain to form a quadruple alliance...
. Following that, the composer was granted permission to travel to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
without loss of salary. He stayed in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, studying with Johann Rosenmüller
Johann Rosenmüller
Johann Rosenmüller , was a German Baroque composer, who played a part in transmitting Italian musical styles to the north....
(composition) and Giovanni Battista Volpe (keyboard), and the in Rome, where his teachers were Antonio Maria Abbatini
Antonio Maria Abbatini
Antonio Maria Abbatini was an Italian composer, active mainly in Rome.Abbatini was born in Città di Castello. He served as maestro di cappella at the Basilica of St. John Lateran from 1626 to 1628; at the cathedral in Orvieto in 1633; and at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome between 1640 to 1646, 1649...
(composition) and Bernardo Pasquini
Bernardo Pasquini
right|thumb|Bernardo PasquiniBernardo Pasquini was an Italian composer of opera and church music.He was born at Massa in Val di Nievole . He was a pupil of Antonio Cesti and Loreto Vittori...
(keyboard and composition). In 1675 Johann Philipp went to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, then one of the most important musical capitals of Europe, where he played for Emperor Leopold I
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
. The Emperor was a well-known patron of the arts and a composer; upon hearing Krieger's performance, he was sufficiently impressed to ennoble him and all his brothers and sisters.
Johann Philipp later returned to Bayreuth, and shortly thereafter travelled to 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 Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
. He was offered job invitations in both cities, but either declined both, or held them for a very short time. On 2 November 1677 Johann Philipp was employed as court organist at Halle
Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...
. Duke August
August, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels
Augustus of Saxe-Weissenfels , was a duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt of the House of Wettin and administrator of the archbishopric of Magdeburg....
died in 1680 and was succeeded by his brother, Johann Adolf I
Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels
Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels , was a duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt and member of the House of Wettin....
, who moved the court to Weißenfels
Weißenfels
Weißenfels is the largest town of the Burgenlandkreis district, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approximately south of Halle.-History:...
. Johann Philipp went with him as Kapellmeister, and this was his last position: he held it for 45 years, until his death. The court's musical establishment soon became one of Germany’s greatest. Two years after Johann Philipp moved to Weißenfels, his brother Johann moved to Zittau
Zittau
Zittau is a city in the south east of the Free State of Saxony, Germany, close to the border tripoint of Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. , there are 28,638 people in the city. It is part of the Görlitz district....
, similarly to accept a position he would occupy for several decades until his death.
Johann Philipp was a prolific composer and supplied the Weißenfels court with countless sacred and secular works, including some 2000 cantatas, at least 18 operas, trio-sonatas, etc. He also had numerous works by other composers performed at the court, and kept a catalogue of every piece he performed. He actively published his own music: a set of trio sonatas appeared in 1688, to be followed by another, then a collection of music for wind instruments, etc. Unfortunately, numerous works were lost: for instance, of the 2000 cantatas only 76 are extant. This is the case with his brother's music, too: hundreds of his compositions are listed in Johann Philipp's catalogue, but very few survive. Johann Philipp died in 1725. He was succeeded as Weißenfels Kapellmeister by his son, Johann Gotthilf, until 1736.
Selected works
This section lists collections of Krieger's music published during the composer's lifetime, in chronological order.- 12 suonate (Nuremberg, 1688): trio sonatas for two violins and basso continuo
- Auserlesene in denen dreyen Sing-Spielen Flora, Cecrops und Procris enthaltene Arien (Nuremberg, 1690): first volume of arias
- Auserlesene Arien anderer Theil (Nuremberg, 1692): second volume of arias
- 12 suonate (Nuremberg, 1693): trio sonatas for violin, bass viol, and basso continuo
- Musicalischer Seelen-Friede (Nuremberg, 1697): 20 cantatas for a soloist and 1–2 violins (obbligato/ad lib)
- Lustige Feld-Music (Nuremberg, 1704): works for 4 wind instruments