Christoph Förster (1693-1745)
- Concerto (G-Dur) | per | l'Organo.
Performers: Hans-Eberhard Ross (organ)
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German composer. He began organ studies with local organist Johann
Philipp Pitzler, with whom he traveled. In 1710 he met Johann David
Heinichen in Weissenfels, who at the time was working as a lawyer. With
Heinichen, he took lessons in general bass and also began studying
composition. When Heinichen went to Italy, Förster moved to Merseburg
where he continued his studies with the Kapellmeister and court organist
Georg Friedrich Kaufmann. Later, in 1717 he was employed as a chamber
musician in the Sachsen-Merseburg Hofkapelle where he played second
violin to Johann Gottlieb Graun, whom he later superseded as
Konzertmeister. In 1723, Förster traveled to Prague with his employer
for the coronation of Charles VII of Bohemia. In Prague, he made the
acquaintance of the Viennese court musicians Fux, Caldara, Conti and
Piani and also took part in a performance of Fux's Constanza e Fortezza
and performed in a concert as a harpsichord soloist and violinist for a
Dutch ambassador. He continued to serve at his post in Merseburg until
the Hofkapelle was dissolved in 1738 following the death of the Duke
Moritz Wilhelm. At the birthday of Frederick Anton, Prince of
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt he played as a soloist under the leadership of
Kapellmeister Johann Graf. Still without a fixed position, he applied
for the position of vice-kapellmeister in Rudolstadt which he received
on 3 May 1743 without a fixed salary. He died there two years later in
1745. Throughout his life, Förster maintained numerous contacts with
other musicians. Most notably, he is known to have subscribed to two of
Telemann's publications of the 1730s; Tafelmusik and the Paris quartets.
It was Telemann who published Förster's Sei Duetti, Op. 1 in Paris in
1737. Förster was proficient in the Italian style of composition, which
he learned from Heinichen and from his subsequent trips to Leipzig and
Dresden (1719), and then Prague (1723). This is evident in his wealth of
orchestral and chamber music, much of which was probably composed for
performance at the Merseburg court. During his time in Merseburg he was
also required to compose Italian cantatas, and purportedly also learned
Italian for this purpose. Although there are several Italian cantatas
listed in Breitkopf's thematic catalogue, few, if any, of these pieces
have survived.
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