Johann Peter Kellner (1705-1772)
- Cantata Nuptialis 'Es bleibet wohl dabei er weiß in allen Sachen'
|
a 2 Clarini Tympalo[!] 2 Violin Viola C A. T B | et | Organo obligato
Performers: Anna Kellnhοfеr (soprano); Christoph Dittmаr (alto); Mirko
Ludwig (tenor); Ralf Grοbе (bass);
Cantus Thuringia; Capella Thuringia;
Bernhard Klаpprοtt (organ & conductor)
Further info: Johann Peter Kellner - Sacred Cantatas
---
German organist and composer. His parents wished him to become a
lamp-black merchant like his father, but he was determined to study
music. In 1720 he began receiving his initial instruction in music from
the Gräfenroda schoolmaster Johann Heinrich Nagel, a pupil of the Gotha
court organist Christian Friedrich Witt. He continued his studies with
the organist Johann Jacob Schmidt in Zella and received instruction in
composition from Hieronymus Florentinus Quehl, who served as the music
director at St. Mary’s Church in Suhl. From 1725 to 1727 he was a school
caretaker and organist in Frankenhain, and from 1727 until his death in
1772 he was a school caretaker, music director, and organist at St.
Lawrence’s Church in Gräfenroda. The fact that Kellner, despite his
relatively brief training, was able to attain a very considerable level
as a composer is something he owed not least to his contacts with the
circle of Bach’s friends. This circle of friends included, along with
members of the Bach family, pupils of Johann Sebastian Bach and musical
acquaintances such as Jacob Adlung in Erfurt. It is to be assumed that
these contacts were established through Johann Bernhard Bach, the
organist at St. Michael’s Church in Ohrdruf. In 1790 Johann Ludwig
Gerber reported of Kellner: "He was a very accomplished player and a
great fuguist on the organ. […] An anecdote about him is told: that when
he noticed that Bach had entered the church, he intoned on the organ
the subject of a fugue, b.a.c.h., and expounded it after his manner,
i.e., with very fine art" (Johann Ludwig Gerber,
Historisch-Biographisches Lexicon der Tonkünstler, Vol. 1, Leipzig,
1790, cols. 715 f.). Kellner was famous throughout Thuringia as an
organist and teacher. Kellner also played a critical role in the
dissemination of the music of J.S. Bach, evinced by the many manuscript
copies of Bach's compositions, primarily keyboard and organ works, that
stem from his circle. These manuscripts, many of which are in Kellner's
hand, often represent the earliest or only source of a work, and they
shed light on the chronology, compositional history and authenticity of
the music. As a composer, his own compositional efforts largely reflect
those of his idol. However, beginning in the 1740s he began to change
his style to reflect galant practice. Works in this new style include
five keyboard sonatas published in 1752, as well as the compendium
'Manipulus musices' (1752–1759). He also composed a complete cycle of
Lutheran church cantatas in 1753, which have been lost. His surviving 36
cantatas demonstrate a growing use of the new stylistic idiom. His son,
Johann Christoph Kellner (1736-1803), was also organist and composer,
and his brother Johann Andreas Kellner (1724-1785) was organist, horn
player and composer.
