darmstadt
Music Monday: Sonata In G Minor 1721
(Johann) Christoph Graupner: born January 13, 1683, in Kirchberg, Saxony and died May 10, 1760 in Darmstadt, Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1706, because of a threat of Swedish invasion, he sought refuge at Hamburg, where he was harpsichordist at the opera under R. Keiser. The most significant genres in which Graupner worked were the chorale cantata, the trio sonata and the concerto. He composed about 1,300 cantatas. His trio sonatas and concerti represent a German assimilation of these Italian forms. Characteristically, the trio sonatas are written in fugal style. Graupner also wrote several operas, many overtures and symphonies and, harpsichord partitas and sonatas.
Christoph Graupner was one of the principal German composers of the period of J.S. Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann. He was highly thought of in his day, much like George Frederic Handel or Telemann, with whom he maintained a lifetime friendship. Composers Johann David Heinichen and Johann Friedrich Fasch were also close friends of his. His first teachers were Mylius and the organist Nikolaus Küster (PDF), whom Graupner followed to Reichenbach in 1694. He entered the Leipzig Thomasschule in 1696, where J.D. Heinichen was a fellow student[…]. [H]e studied under Johann Schelle and Johann Kuhnau and befriended Telemann and his future colleague Gottfried Grünewald […]. Leaving Leipzig in 1706, […] Graupner went to Hamburg […]. [He] composed, there, his first five operas that received great public acclaim […]. In 1709, he became Vice-Kapellmeister at the court of Ernst Ludwig, Landgrave of Hessen-Darmstadt […]. He wrote many operas up to 1719, when he turned to sacred and instrumental composition. [His] remaining years of […] life were spent at the court at Darmstadt. [He] was a prolific and tireless composer. Though blind later in life, he produced immense amounts of music […].
Christoph Graupner is one of the most fascinating, yet, at the same time, underestimated composers of German baroque music: the era of Bach, Händel, Telemann and many other nearly forgotten composers.
Graupner Digital Online
Florian Heyerick
Additional:
Christoph Graupner (Music Web International/Len Mullenger)
Christoph Graupner Society Website
Complete Score Sheet Music (IMSLP/GWV 724)
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