Reinhard Keiser facts for kids

Reinhard Keiser (born January 9, 1674 – died September 12, 1739) was a famous German composer. He lived and worked in Hamburg, a big city in Germany. Keiser wrote more than 100 operas, which are plays set to music.

A writer named Johann Adolf Scheibe thought Keiser was as good as other great composers like Johann Kuhnau, George Frideric Handel, and Georg Philipp Telemann. Even though he was very talented, his music was mostly forgotten for many years after he died.

Reinhard Keiser's Life Story

Keiser was born in a town called Teuchern in Germany. His father, Gottfried Keiser, was an organ player and teacher. Reinhard learned music from other organists in his hometown.

When he was eleven, he went to the Thomasschule in Leipzig. This was a famous school where many great musicians studied. His teachers there included Johann Schelle and Johann Kuhnau, who taught before Johann Sebastian Bach.

Early Career and Operas

In 1694, Keiser became a composer for the duke in Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. He had probably visited this court earlier, around 1692, to learn about their famous operas. The city had built a large opera house in 1691 that could hold 1,200 people.

Keiser's first opera, Procris und Cephalus, was performed there. In the same year, his opera Basilius was shown in Hamburg. The music expert Johann Mattheson said it was "received with great success and applause."

This was a very busy time for Keiser. He wrote many different kinds of music. He composed not only operas but also songs (arias), duets, and church music. He created background music and big musical stories called oratorios for the city.

Life in Hamburg

Around 1697, Keiser moved to Hamburg for good. He became the main composer at the very famous Oper am Gänsemarkt. This opera house is now known as the Hamburg State Opera. He worked there from 1697 to 1717.

Keiser became the director of the opera house in 1702. He changed the opera house from a public place to a business. It would have two or three shows a week, unlike opera houses for rich people.

He helped opera change from the middle Baroque period to the late Baroque period. He started using more types of songs (arias) in his operas. He included both slower and faster songs in his operas, even those with two languages. This happened by the 1703/04 season, with operas like Nebukadnezar and Salomon.

Challenges and New Works

In early 1704, Keiser was conducting his operas Nebukadnezar and Salomon in Hamburg. The opera season had to end suddenly, probably because of government issues. He then traveled to other cities like Brunswick and Weissenfels.

In Weissenfels, he created a masterpiece called Almira in July. He stayed there for some time, enjoying many holidays. He returned to Hamburg shortly after Easter in 1705. He wanted to create a new opera to compete with Handel's Nero, which had been performed in February 1705.

Keiser would face Handel again. In January 1708, Handel presented two operas, Florindo and Daphne. Keiser responded with his own operas like La forza dell'amore and Desiderius, König der Langobarden in the 1708/09 season. He worked behind the scenes during this time.

Keiser likely became the director again around 1710 when things were more stable in Hamburg. He continued to compose, creating his own passion music in 1712.

Later Years and Legacy

In 1718, the Hamburg Opera closed down. Keiser left Hamburg to find other work. He traveled to Thuringia and Stuttgart. From this time, we still have three musical pieces for flute, violin, and basso continuo.

In the summer of 1721, he came back to Hamburg. But he quickly left for Copenhagen with an opera group. This was probably because Georg Philipp Telemann was becoming very popular in Hamburg. Between 1721 and 1727, Keiser traveled between Hamburg and Copenhagen. He even received the title of Master of the Danish Royal Chapel.

After the opera group broke up, Keiser returned to Hamburg once more. However, changes in how the opera worked made it hard to repeat his past successes. Three of his operas from 1722 to 1734 still exist today. He remained good friends with Telemann, who often included Keiser's operas in his own programs.

In 1728, Keiser became the precentor (a leader of church music) at St. Mary's Cathedral in Hamburg. He took over this job from Johann Mattheson. Keiser wrote mostly church music there until he died in 1739.

After Keiser's death, his friend Mattheson wrote that Keiser was "the greatest opera composer in the world."

Famous Operas by Keiser

The Oper am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg, where many of Keiser's operas were first performed.

Here are some of Reinhard Keiser's most important operas. Most of them were first performed in Hamburg at the Theater am Gänsemarkt:

• Basilius (probably Braunschweig, 1693)
• Cephalus und Procris (Braunschweig, 1694)
• Der geliebte Adonis (1697)
• The Temple of Janus (1698)
• Iphigenia (1699)
• Herkules und Hebe (1699)
• La forza della virtù oder Die Macht der Tugend (1700)
• Störtebeker und Jödge Michels (2 parts, 1701)
• Der Sieg der fruchtbaren Pomona (1702)
• Die sterbende Eurydice oder Orpheus (2 parts, 1702)
• Der verführte Claudius (early 1703)
• Nebukadnezar, König zu Babylon (1703/04 opera season)
• Salomon (1703/04 opera season)
• Almira (Weissenfels, July 1704)
• Octavia (August 1705)
• Die kleinmütige Selbst-Mörderin Lucretia oder Die Staats-Torheit des Brutus (1705)
• Masaniello furioso (1706)
• Der angenehme Betrug (1707)
• La forza dell'amore oder Die von Paris entführte Helena (1709)
• Desiderius, König der Langobarden (1709)
• Arsinoe (1710)
• Der durch den Fall des großen Pompejus erhöhete Julius Caesar (1710)
• Der hochmütige, gestürzte und wieder erhabene Croesus (1710, revised 1730)
• Der sich rächende Cupido (1712, revised 1724)
• L'inganno fedele oder Der getreue Betrug (1714)
• Fredegunda (1715)
• L'Amore verso la patria oder Der sterbende Cato (1715)
• Das zerstörte Troja oder Der durch den Tod Helenens versöhnte Achilles (1716)
• Die großmütige Tomyris (1717)
• Jobates und Bellerophon (1717)
• Ulysses (Copenhagen 1722)
• Bretislaus oder Die siegende Beständigkeit (1725)
• Der lächerliche Prinz Jodelet (1726)
• Lucius Verus oder Die siegende Treue (1728)

Oratorios

Keiser also wrote many oratorios, which are large musical pieces for voices and instruments, usually based on religious stories.

• Der blutige und sterbende Jesus, Hamburg (1704)
• Thränen unter dem Kreutze Jesu, Hamburg (1711)
• Brockes Passion, Hamburg (1712)
• Lukas-Passion Wir gingen all in der Irre, Hamburg (1715)
• Seelige / Erlösungs-Gedancken / Aus dem / Oratorio / Der / Zum Tode verurtheilte und gecreutzigte / Jesus ... Hamburg (1715) - a revised version of Thränen unter dem Kreutze Jesu
• Der siegende David. Hamburg (1717)
• Oratorium Passionale 1729: Der blutige und sterbende Jesus, Hamburg (1729)

See also

In Spanish: Reinhard Keiser para niños