Johann Kuhnau facts for kids
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Johann Kuhnau (born April 6, 1660 – died June 5, 1722) was a very talented German person who did many things. Today, he is mostly remembered as a famous composer. But he was also a novelist (someone who writes books), a translator (someone who changes words from one language to another), a lawyer, and a music theorist (someone who studies how music works).
Kuhnau managed to do all these things while also working as the Thomaskantor in Leipzig for 21 years. This was a very important job where he was in charge of music at a big church and school. Sadly, a lot of his music, like his operas and large singing pieces, has been lost over time.
He is best known for his Biblical Sonatas. These were a collection of keyboard sonatas (musical pieces) published in 1700. Each sonata told a detailed story from the Bible using music. After Kuhnau passed away, another very famous composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, took over his job as Thomaskantor.
Who Was Johann Kuhnau?
Most of what we know about Johann Kuhnau comes from a book written by Johann Mattheson in 1740. Kuhnau's family was Protestant and originally from Bohemia. Their last name was Kuhn. Johann Kuhnau was born in a place called Geising, which is in Saxony today.
Early Life and Musical Training
Kuhnau showed his musical talent very early on. Around 1670, when he was about 10 years old, he was sent to Dresden. There, he studied music with musicians who worked for the royal court. For the next ten years, he learned how to play keyboard instruments and how to compose music. He also learned to speak French and Italian.
In 1680, a serious illness, similar to the Great Plague of Vienna, reached Dresden. Kuhnau had to go back home to stay safe. After that, he continued studying music at a school called Johanneum in Zittau. Later, he studied law at Leipzig University.
Becoming an Organist and Lawyer
Kuhnau was very active as a composer and performer while he was at university. In 1684, when he was 24, he got a job as the organist at Thomaskirche in Leipzig. This was a very important church.
In 1688, Kuhnau finished his law studies and started working as a lawyer. He still kept his job as an organist and continued to compose music. In 1689, he published his first collection of keyboard music. He published three more collections in 1692, 1696, and 1700.
During the 1690s, he translated many books from Italian and French into German. He also finished and published his most famous novel, a funny story called Der musicalische Quack-Salber (which means "The Musical Quack"). In his free time, he studied many different subjects, like mathematics, Hebrew, and Greek.
Challenges as Thomaskantor
In 1701, Kuhnau took over the job of Thomaskantor from Johann Schelle. He held this position until he died. Even though he was good at leading the music activities at the Thomaskirche and teaching at the Thomasschule, Kuhnau started to have health problems.
A music expert named Willi Apel said that the job was "as vexatious and difficult for him as for his successor, J.S. Bach." Not only did he have health issues, but other musicians and composers, like Georg Philipp Telemann and even Kuhnau's own student Johann Friedrich Fasch, sometimes made his job harder.
Kuhnau passed away in Leipzig on June 5, 1722. He had three daughters from his marriage in 1689. Some of his students included Fasch, Johann David Heinichen, and Christoph Graupner.
Kuhnau's Music
Kuhnau is famous today because of four collections of music he wrote for keyboard instruments, published between 1689 and 1700. The most important one is the last collection, called Musicalische Vorstellung einiger biblischer Historien. This is often called the Biblical Sonatas.
The Biblical Sonatas
This collection has six sonatas, and each one tells a story from the Bible through music. They have several different parts, or movements:
- The Fight between David and Goliath
- Saul's melancholy cured by the music played by David on his harp
- Jacob's Wedding
- Hezekiah's sickness and restoration
- Gideon, Saviour of Israel
- Jacob's Death and Burial
Kuhnau used many different musical tricks to show the events in the stories. For example, he used sounds like trumpets blowing or David's stone being thrown. He also showed how the characters felt, like the Israelites being scared before a battle or Hezekiah's joy mixed with sadness about his illness. He even used parts of old church songs and sounds like those from operas.
Other Keyboard Works
Kuhnau's other keyboard pieces show that he liked to try different musical forms. His Clavier-Übung (which means "Keyboard Exercise") has two parts, each with 7 suites. A suite is a collection of dance-like musical pieces. The first part is all in major keys, and the second part is all in minor keys.
These suites usually start with a prelude (an introductory piece). Then they follow a common order of dances: allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue. Sometimes, a minuet or an aria (a song-like piece) is placed between the dances. Kuhnau's preludes almost always have two sections: a prelude part and a fugue (a complex musical form where different parts play the same melody at different times).
Kuhnau's Sonata in B-flat major was once thought to be the very first keyboard sonata ever written. But later, people found out it was actually the first keyboard sonata published in Germany. Kuhnau was just following what other composers from different countries were doing.
Frische Clavier Früchte
The third collection of his works is called Frische Clavier Früchte (meaning "Fresh Keyboard Fruits"). It has six sonatas that are like Italian chamber sonatas. Music writers Milton Cross and David Ewen said that publishing this work was a "important event in musical history." This is because it was one of the first serious attempts to write music for keyboard instruments other than the organ.
Kuhnau used many different forms and textures in this work. Even the opening parts range from short, fast pieces like a toccata to longer, repeating pieces like a chaconne. One expert said that Kuhnau's way of handling the different parts of the fugues in this collection was "perhaps his primary contribution to the historical development of fugue." Frische Clavier Früchte was Kuhnau's most popular work during his lifetime. It was printed five times, even once after he died.
Lost Music
Much of Kuhnau's music for singing is lost. This includes an opera called Orpheus, a musical setting of the Passion story from St. Mark, a Te Deum for three choirs, and at least two masses. The cantatas (pieces for singers and instruments) that still exist are simple but very expressive. Unlike the composers before him at the Thomaskirche, Kuhnau's cantatas usually started with an instrumental part, then switched between arias and recitatives (parts that sound like talking). The Christmas cantata Uns ist ein Kind geboren, which was once thought to be by Bach, was most likely written by Kuhnau.
Kuhnau's Writings
Of the few books and writings by Kuhnau that still exist, one of the most important is Der musicalische Quack-Salber ("The Musical Quack"). This was a satirical novel published in 1700. It tells the funny adventures of a German trickster named Caraffa. He tries to become a famous musician by pretending to be a talented Italian performer.
People have praised the writing in this novel, with one writer calling it very new and creative with language. It's also a valuable source of information about how music was performed in the late 1600s. Kuhnau wrote two other satirical works: Der Schmid seines eignen Unglückes ("The Maker of His Own Misfortune", 1695) and Des klugen und thörichten Gebrauchs der Fünf Sinnen ("On the Clever and Foolish Use of the Five Senses", 1698). Some of Kuhnau's funny ideas and story twists were influenced by the novels of Christian Weise. Kuhnau knew Weise from his time in Zittau, where Weise was a school principal. Kuhnau used to write music (now lost) for Weise's school plays.
Music Theory Writings
Kuhnau's book on music theory, called Fundamenta compositionis, exists in only one copy. This copy also has another writing about double counterpoint and two texts by Christoph Bernhard. For a while, the whole copy was thought to be written by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Unfortunately, Fundamenta seems to be a bad and incomplete copy of Kuhnau's original work. The last five chapters are copied directly from another book by Bernhard. Also, the discussion about musical modes is very similar to what is in Walther's Praecepta der musicalischen Composition (1708), but it leaves out some parts that Walther included. This similarity made people wonder: how much of Walther's famous book was based on Kuhnau's lost original? Or did both Walther and Kuhnau get their ideas from another writer that we don't know about today?
Kuhnau wrote at least two more books on music theory, but we only know their names: Tractatus de tetrachordo seu musica antiqua ac hodierna and De triade harmonica. His thoughts on musical modes, solmization (a way of naming musical notes), and other topics are found in a letter from December 8, 1717. This letter was published by Mattheson in 1725. Also, the "Biblical Sonatas" include a long introduction where Kuhnau talks about the idea of program music (music that tells a story) and other related topics.
Family Life
Kuhnau's nephew, Johann Andreas Kuhnau, was born in Annaberg on December 1, 1703. He was one of the main people who copied music for J. S. Bach. He went to the Thomasschule starting in 1718 and studied at Leipzig University from 1719. He passed away after 1745.
List of Works
Many of Kuhnau's works are lost, including stage plays, cantatas, and many pieces written for special occasions. Some cantatas, arias, and odes only exist as text, without the music. At least two of his writings are also lost: Tractatus de tetrachordo seu musica antiqua ac hodierna and De triade harmonica. The list below only includes works that still exist completely.
Keyboard Music
- Neuer Clavier-Übung, erster Theil, 7 suites (1689)
- Neuer Clavier-Übung, anderer Theil, 7 suites and 1 sonata (1692)
- Frische Clavier Früchte, 7 sonatas (1696)
- Musicalische Vorstellung einiger biblischer Historien, 6 sonatas (1700)
- Prelude in G major, for organ
- Praeludium alla breve, for organ
- Fugue in G major, for organ
- Toccata in A major, for organ
Sacred Vocal Music (for church)
- Ach Herr, wie sind meiner Feinde so viel
- Bone Jesu, chare Jesu
- Christ lag in Todesbanden
- Daran erkennen wir, dass wir in ihm verbleiben
- Das Alte ist vergangen
- Ende gut und alles gut
- Erschrick mein Hertz vor dir
- Es steh Gott auf (possibly not by Kuhnau)
- Frohlocket, ihr Völker, und jauchzet, ihr Heiden
- Gott der Vater, Jesus Christus, der Heil'ge Geist wohn uns bey
- Gott hat uns nicht gesetzt zum Zorn
- Gott sei mir gnädig
- Ich freue mich im Herrn
- Ich hebe meine Augen auf
- Ihr Himmel jubilirt von oben
- In te Domine speravi
- Laudate pueri
- Lobe den Herrn meine Seele (2 versions, for 2 and 5 voices)
- Lobet, ihr Himmel, den Herrn
- Mein Alter kommt, ich kann nicht sterben
- Magnificat
- Missa brevis
- Muss nicht der Mensch auf dieser Erden
- Nicht nur allein am frohen Morgen
- O heilige Zeit, wo Himmel, Erd und Luft (2 versions, 1 for 2 voices possibly not by Kuhnau, 1 for 4 voices)
- Schmücket das Fest mit Meyen
- Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied
- Spirate clementes
- Tristis est anima mea
- Und ob die Feinde Tag und Nacht
- Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her
- Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan
- Weicht ihr Sorgen aus dem Hertzen
- Welt adieu, ich bin dein müde
- Wenn ihr fröhlich seid an euren Festen
- Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern
Secular Vocal Music (not for church)
- Ach Gott, wie lästu mich erstarren, an aria for the burial of Rektor Titius, Zittau, May 19, 1681
Writings
- Divini numinis assistentia, illustrisque jure consultorum in florentissima academia Lipsiensi (his law dissertation; Leipzig, 1688)
- Der Schmid seines eignen Unglückes (novel; 1695)
- Des klugen und thörichten Gebrauchs der Fünf Sinnen (novel; 1698).
- Der musicalische Quack-Salber (novel; Dresden, 1700)
- Fundamenta compositionis (music theory book; 1703)
See also
In Spanish: Johann Kuhnau para niños
