Adolf Karl Kunzen

Adolf Karl Kunzen , also Adolph , Carl , Kuntzen (born September 22, 1720 in Wittenberg , † July 11, 1781 in Lübeck ) was a German organist and composer .

Life

Kunzen was born as the son of the organist Johann Paul Kunzen (1696–1757) and his wife Dorothea (née Selner; † 1765) in Wittenberg . Kunzen received a musical education from his father, which Jakob Wilhelm Lustig continued in Hamburg. He was soon considered a musical boy wonder and went on concert tours to Holland and England. He played the violin for the Danish royal couple in Aurich in August 1728. During his employment as concertmaster (from 1749) with Duke Christian Ludwig II of Mecklenburg (-Schwerin) , he occasionally wrote compositions. After he became Kapellmeister in 1752 , he left Schwerin due to disputes and then went to London. When his father died in Lübeck as an organist and foreman at the Marienkirche , he took over his position in 1757 and thus moved to the top of the music scene in the Hanseatic city.

Kunzen had been a Freemason since 1745 ; initially accepted into the Hamburg Absalom Lodge , he became a member of the St. George Lodge in November 1745 .

After a stroke paralyzed his right hand in 1772, he was succeeded by Johann Wilhelm Cornelius v. Until his death in 1781 . Königslöw (1745–1833) added as an adjunct .

Friedrich Ludwig Æmilius Kunzen was his son.

plant

Kunzen left behind an extensive oeuvre, largely in handwritten form, for which a binding list is still missing. His works from the time he was active in Schwerin reveal an independence that invigorates the artistic environment. Like his father, he composed a number of significant five-part oratorios on biblical stories, including Israel's idolatry in the desert (1758), Absalon (1761) and Goliath ( for the cycle of public concerts, the evening music , which has been firmly established at the Marienkirche at least since Dietrich Buxtehude ). 1762). In them the large choirs stand out, which are characterized by their dramatically lively expression and revealing structure as well as the combination of masses. The influence of George Frideric Handel is unmistakable, whose oratorios Kunzen probably got to know in London. The instrumental works of the Schwerin and London years pay homage to the gallant and sensitive style that Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach had shaped as a pioneering composer. Kunzen was firmly rooted in the tradition of Lübeck's musical life, but also gave it new impulses by being the first to regularly perform works by foreign composers and to provide support to the concert enthusiast.

Works

Facsimile / digital copies

• The rescued Bethulia Abendmusik 1759 Digitized version of the autograph , signature Mus A 159 , Lübeck City Library
• Absalon Abendmusik 1761 Digitized version of the autograph , signature Mus A 160 , Lübeck City Library
• Naboth. Evening music in five sections. (1769) Digitized version of the autograph , signature Mus A 190 , Lübeck City Library
• The shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem. Abendmusik 1771 Digitized version of the autograph , signature Mus A 161 , Lübeck City Library
• Overture ( digital version (PDF; 9.2 MB) from the Danish Royal Library )
• Friedrich Ludwig Æmilius Kunzen, Carl Friedrich Cramer (ed.): Compositions of the odes and songs contained in the first part of my father's poems Breitkopf, Leipzig 1784.
• The songs for the innocent pastime first and second sequel. Lübeck, 1754 and London: Haberkorn 1756.

Digitalisat , City Library Lübeck

Songs to pass the time innocently. Second continuation. Facsimile edition ed. E. Thom, Michaelstein 1990

expenditure

• Harpsichord concerts. In: North German Piano Concerts of the Middle 18th Century , ed. A. Edler, Munich / Salzburg 1994 (= Monuments of North German Music Vol. 5/6), ISBN 3-873971-71-2
• The shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem. Lübeck: Library of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck 2006

literature

• Arndt Schnoor, Volker Scherliess : "Theater Music in the Church". On the history of Lübeck evening music. Lübeck 2003. ISBN 3-933652-15-4
• Johann Hennings, Wilhelm Stahl: Lübeck's music history , 1951 Bärenreiter Verlag
• Hermann Abert: Rudolf Gerber: Illustrated music lexicon , 1927 J. Engelhorns nachf.
• Hugo Daffner: The development of the piano concerto up to Mozart, 1906 Breitkopf & Härtel
• Klaus Hortschansky:  Kunzen, Adolf Karl. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-428-00194-X , p. 310 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Arnfried Edler: Between Handel and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. On the situation of the piano concerto in the middle of the 18th century , in: Acta Musicologica 58/1986, pp. 180–222

Web links

• Works by and about Adolf Karl Kunzen in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature about Adolf Karl Kunzen in the state bibliography MV

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Johannes Hennings: History of the Johannis Lodge "Zum Füllhorn" zu Lübeck, 1772-1922. Lübeck 1922, p. 10

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann Paul Kunzen	Organist at St. Marien zu Lübeck 1757–1781	Johann Wilhelm Cornelius von Königslöw