| Christoph Graupner |
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| 1683 births | |
| graupner, christoph | |
| 1760 deaths | |
| people from saxony | |
| baroque composers | |
| german composers | |
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| blind musicians | |
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GRAUPNER'S LIFE Born in Hartmanndorf near Kirchberg in Saxony , Graupner received his first musical instruction from his uncle, an Organist named Nicolaus Kuester. Graupner went to the university in Leipzig where he studied Law (as did many composers of the time}; and then completed his musical studies with Johann Kuhnau , the Cantor of the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church). In 1705 Graupner left Leipzig to play the Harpsichord in the orchestra of the Hamburg Opera under the direction of Reinhard Keiser , alongside a young violinist named Handel. In addition to playing the harpsichord, Grauper composed three operas in Hamburg in collaboration with Keiser, a popular composer of operas in Germany. In 1709 Graupner accepted a post at the court of Hesse-Darmstadt and in 1711 became the court orchestra’s ''Hofkapellmeister'' (court chapel master). Graupner spent the rest of his career at the court in Hesse-Darmstadt, where his primary responsibilities were to provide music for the court chapel. Graupner spent the rest of his life in Darmstadt where he wrote music for nearly half a century, from 1709 to 1754, when he became Blind . He died six years later where he had quietly lived most of his life -- in Darmstadt. He was a humble man. GRAUPNER AND BACH Christoph Graupner inadvertently played a key role in the history of music. Precarious finances in Darmstadt during the 1710s, forced a reduction of musical life. The opera house was closed. And many court musicians' salaries were in arrears (including Graupner). Despite many attempts to have his salary paid, and having several children and a wife to support, in 1722 Graupner applied for the Kantorship in Leipzig. Telemann had been the first choice for this position, but withdrew after securing a salary increase in Hamburg. Graupner's "audition" Magnificat, set in the style of his teacher and mentor Kuhnau, secured him the position. However, Graupner's patron (the Landgrave Ernst Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt) would not release him from his contract. Graupner's past due salary was paid in full, his salary was increased; and he would be kept on staff regardless even if Kapelle was dismissed. With such favorable terms, Graupner remained in Darmstadt, thus clearing the way for Bach to become the Cantor in Leipzig. After Graupner heard that J. S. Bach was the choice for Leipzig, on May 4, 1723 Grauper graciously wrote the city council in Leipzig assuring them that Bach is "a musician just as strong on the organ as he is expert in church works and capelle pieces" and a man who "will honestly and properly perform the functions entrusted to him." (''Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician'' by Christoph Wolff, W.W. Norton & Company, New York & London, 2000, p 224) GRAUPNER'S WORK Graupner was hardworking and prolific. There are about 2000 surviving works in his catalog, including 113 Sinfonia s, 85 Ouverture s (suites), 44 Concerto s, 8 Opera s, 1418 religious and 24 secular Cantata s, 66 Sonata s, 44 Concerto s, and 40 Harpsichord Partita s. Nearly all of Graupner's manuscripts are housed in the ULB (Technical University Library) in Darmstadt, Germany. OBSCURITY After he died, Graupner became an obscure composer for several reasons. His manuscripts became the source of a legal battle between his heirs and his patron, the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. The Landgrave won. Graupner's heirs were unable to obtain permission to sell or publish his works which remained inaccessible at the castle of Darmstadt. On the positive side however, the Landgrave's seizure of Graupner's musical estate, insured its survival en toto. Fate wasn't nearly as kind to J. S. Bach's musical legacy, for example. Another factor that contributed to Graupner's posthumous obscurity was that, unlike Bach, Graupner had very few pupils (other than Fasch) to carry on his musical legacy. As critic David Vernier has summed it up, {Link without Title} Graupner is "one of those unfortunate victims of fate and circumstance -- a contemporary of Bach, Handel, Telemann, etc., who has remained largely -- and unfairly -- neglected." REDISCOVERY There is currently a revival of Graupner's music, in large part, due to the research efforts of many musicologists, performers, and conductors. Starting in the early part of the 20th century, research was begun with Willibald Nagel's study of Graupner's Sinfonias. And in the 1920s, Friedrich Noack published his research on Graupner's Cantatas. Barenreiter published several Graupner Sinfonias and an Ouverture in the 1950s. And in the early 1980s, Myron Rosenblum edited four sinfonias for the massive Barry Brook project The Symphony, 1720-1840: A Comprehensive Collection of Full Scores , (New York: Garland, 1979-85), 60 vols. 1988 saw the publication of Oswald Bill's study of Christoph Graupner, with several articles by such Graupner experts as Peter Cahn (on the sinfonias), Joanna Cobb Biermann (musicians and salaries in Darmstadt), as well as source documents on court life in Darmstadt. Three wonderful dissertations were very important for Graupner research: H. Cutler Fall's study of the Passiontide cantatas, Rene Schmidt's study of the Christmas cantatas, and Vernon Wicker's study of solo bass cantatas. Christoph Grosspietsch published an extensive study of Graupner's Ouvertures in 1994. Unfortunately despite all this research, there were relatively few recordings available to the general public. This sad situation was retectified in 1998, when Hermann Max conducted a CD of Graupner works on the CPO label. Montreal harpsichordist Geneviève Soly {Link without Title} came across a Graupner manuscript in the Beinecke Library at Yale in the year 2000 and started performing and recording his works. Graupner was "always on the cutting edge for his time and very innovative in his ideas for harmony, notation, and the use of instruments," as Soly has noted. "You have to take into consideration his various styles in relation to the actual period and the ideas he was interested in developing at that moment. The size of the catalogue imposes added difficulties in this respect, because another composer might have written for just as long, but in one style only. Mozart comes to mind: although he composed over a shorter period, his style was always well defined." In 2006, a thematic catalog of Graupner's instrumental music (Oswald Bill and Christoph Grosspietsch editors) was published by Carus Music. There are plans to catalog Graupner's vocal music. SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
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