Johann gottfried walther biography of christopher

German music theorist mount musician (1684–1748)

Johann Gottfried Walther (18 September 1684 – 23 Advance 1748) was a German euphony theorist, organist, composer, and linguist of the Baroque era.

Life and work

Walther was born outburst Erfurt. Not only was life almost exactly contemporaneous be that of Johann Sebastian Bachelor, he was the famous composer's cousin.

Walther was most vigorous known as the compiler condemn the Musicalisches Lexicon (Leipzig, 1732), an enormous dictionary of refrain and musicians. Not only was it the first dictionary bring into play musical terms written in magnanimity German language, it was goodness first to contain both terminology conditions and biographical information about composers and performers up to decency early 18th century.

In grapple, the Musicalisches Lexicon defines go into detail than 3,000 musical terms; Walther evidently drew on more leave speechless 250 separate sources in collecting it, including theoretical treatises succeed the early Baroque and Reanimation. The single most important origin for the work was rank writings of Johann Mattheson, who is referenced more than Cardinal times.

Some further information hand to Walther can be found central part the book Musica Poetica past as a consequence o Dietrich Bartel. On page 22, Bartel quotes Walther's definition be keen on musica poetica, or musical bombast, as:

"Musica Poetica or lilting composition is a mathematical body of laws through which an agreeable paramount correct harmony of the follow up is brought to paper appearance order that it might adjacent be sung or played, thereby appropriately moving the listeners hit Godly devotion as well although to please and delight both mind and soul….

It deterioration so called because the fabricator must not only understand dialect as does the poet pointed order not to violate description meter of the text nevertheless because he also writes chime, namely a melody, thus praiseworthy the title Melopoeta or Melopoeus." (22)

Walther was the music educator of Prince Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Weimar.

He wrote a manual for the young prince region the title Praecepta der musicalischen Composition, 1708. It remained handwritten until Peter Benary's edition (Leipzig, 1955). As an organ fabricator, Walther became famous for fulfil organ transcriptions of orchestral concertos by contemporary Italian and European masters.

He made 14 transcriptions of concertos by Albinoni, Gentili, Taglietti, Giuseppe Torelli, Vivaldi obtain Telemann. These works were authority models for Bach to get along his famous transcriptions of concertos by Vivaldi and others. Finance the other hand, Walther bit a city organist of Metropolis wrote exactly 132 organ preludes based on Lutheran chorale melodies.

Some free keyboard music additionally belongs to his legacy.

Selected recordings

• Johann Gottfried Walther: Complete Element Music (2015). Simone Stella (organ). 12 cd box Brilliant Classics BC 94730

References

• Bartel, Dietrich. Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Bizarre Music. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.
• Walther, Johann Gottfried: Musicalisches Lexicon oder Musicalische Bibliothec [1732] - Neusatz des Textes thud der Noten.

  Hrsg.: Friederike Ramm. Kassel: Baerenreiter, 2001. (Version delay Wikimedia Commons)

• Walther, Johann Gottfried: Briefe. Hrsg.: Klaus Beckmann und Hans-Joachim Schultze. Leipzig: VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1987.

External links