Johann Gottfried Müthel (1728-1788)
- Concerto (B-Dur) per il cembalo, IJM 6
Performers: Björn Gäfvert (harpsichord); Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble; Nils Erik Sparf (conductor)
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German composer. Son of Christian Caspar Müthel (1696-1764), organist at
the Nikolaikirche in Mölln, he received his earliest musical
instruction from his father. Later, when he was in Lübeck, he studied
under Johann Paul Kunzen. In 1747 he was appointed court organist of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin under Duke Christian Ludwig II. In 1750 he was
given a year’s leave of absence to further his studies and he traveled
to Leipzig to meet Johann Sebastian Bach, and remained with him for a
few days before Bach's death. He then studied with Bach’s son-in-law
Johann Christoph Altnikol in Naumburg and Johann Adolph Hasse in nearby
Dresden. Toward the end of the year he found himself in Berlin, where he
formed a fast friendship with Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who also gave
him some lessons. After returning to Schwerin, he moved to Riga, then
under Russian rule, with Duke Christian’s brother, Otto Hermann von
Vietinghof, where he remained the rest of his life. His only other
position came in 1767 when he was appointed as organist at the St.
Peter’s Church there. As a performer, he had some peculiar quirks, with
it being said that he refused to perform other than in winter so that
the sounds of the horses on the cobbles outside would not distract him.
Among his extant works are 10 harpsichord concertos, a Concerto for 2
Bassoons and Strings, sonatas for Harpsichord, and organ music. Charles
Burney wrote of him: ‘The style of this composer more resembles that of
Emanuel Bach, than any other. But the passages are entirely his own, and
reflect as much honour upon his head as his hand’.
