Johann Gottfried Walther facts for kids
Johann Gottfried Walther (born September 18, 1684 – died March 23, 1748) was a German music theorist, organist, and composer. He lived during the Baroque era, which was a time of grand and ornate music.
Walther was born in Erfurt, Germany. Interestingly, his life almost exactly matched the life of the famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Even more, Walther was Bach's cousin!
A Huge Music Dictionary
Walther is best known for creating a massive music dictionary called Musicalisches Lexicon. This book was published in Leipzig in 1732. It was the first music dictionary written in the German language.
What made it special? It was the first dictionary to include both musical terms and information about composers and performers. It covered musicians up to the early 1700s. The Musicalisches Lexicon explained over 3,000 musical terms. Walther used more than 250 different books and writings to put it all together.
Teacher and Composer
Walther was also a music teacher. One of his students was Prince Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Weimar. For the young prince, Walther wrote a special handbook called Praecepta der musicalischen Composition in 1708. This book was handwritten for many years before it was finally printed in 1955.
As an organ composer, Walther became famous for his organ pieces. He took orchestral concertos (pieces for an orchestra) by other composers and rewrote them for the organ. He made 14 such pieces from works by composers like Albinoni, Giuseppe Torelli, Vivaldi, and Telemann. These works were so good that they even inspired his cousin, Johann Sebastian Bach, to write his own famous organ versions of concertos.
Walther also wrote many original organ pieces. As a city organist in Weimar, he created 132 organ preludes. These were based on popular Lutheran chorale melodies, which are like hymns. He also wrote other keyboard music that was not based on specific melodies.
See also
In Spanish: Johann Gottfried Walther para niños
