Carl Friedrich Ernst Rudorff

Carl Friedrich Ernst Rudorff (born January 1749 in Cörbecke ; † July 13, 1796 in Göttingen ) was a German composer and organist .

Live and act

Childhood and youth

Most of the information about Rudorff's career is documented in his own application letter to the Göttingen city cantor position. Rudorff grew up in a family of lawyers; his father Johann Friedrich Rudorff was bailiff of the nobles von Spiegel in Westphalia. The family lived in the administrative building of the village of Cörbecke (today Körbecke) near Warburg . During the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) Johann Friedrich Rudorff died in 1759, probably in the course of the Cörbeck Ruhr epidemic. Carl Friedrich Rudorff went to grammar school in Mühlhausen , Thuringia, as a student , where, according to his autobiography, he took over the vacancy of his sick cousin Luttermann as cantor at the main church and continued to do so for a while after his death. Rudorff earned his living from the time of Mühlhausen by giving musical lessons. The early musical activities suggest a basic musical education in Westphalian. However, this cannot be proven. On April 27, 1773, at the age of 24, Rudorff matriculated for theology at the University of Helmstedt , after which he worked as a private tutor in Rotenburg an der Fulda in Hesse . The time in Rotenburg must have been Rudorff's most important further training in composition. Rudorff himself writes that he learned according to the “patterns of our good composers”.

Göttingen time

Rudorff's re-enrollment as a student in Göttingen on October 16, 1778 can be reliably proven. The Georgia Augusta University had become one of the most important places for academic teaching since it was founded in the 1730s and attracted many students. The Göttingen professor August Ludwig von Schlözer describes Carl Friedrich Rudorff as a "listener who studies with uninterrupted diligence". He hired Rudorff as a private teacher for his children even before he began his studies. On July 10, 1780, the Göttingen city cantor Johann Friedrich Schweinitz died unexpectedly on a spa trip in Bad Pyrmont . Rudorff applied for the vacant position immediately. In addition to Schlözer, professors Christian Friedrich Georg Meister , Ernst Gottfried Baldinger and Christian Gottlob Heyne , the university president himself, wrote a recommendation. Rudorff had three competitors, including the experienced Hildesheim cantor Heinrich Ernst Jordan , who himself had learned from the late cantor Schweinitz. Rudorff's well-preserved personnel file provides information about the course of the recruitment process:

"[...] the candidate Rudorff already held a rehearsal = lesson with approval eight days ago at the local city school in the presence of the magistrate, and yesterday in the local St. Johannis Church performed a music that was highly praised by connoisseurs, Rudorff also thought that he had good certificates because of his knowledge of school sciences as well as music, so it was popular per unanimia not to have any further rehearsals for viewing this service, rather such a Cantor service was given to the often-sought Candidato Theol: Carl Friedrich Rudorff unanimously conferiret in consideration of his good certificates and demonstrated skill. "

As is usual with many city cantors of the 18th century, Rudorff's position included teaching at the Latin school , namely in the subjects of Latin, theology and music, performing the duties of the cantor at the main church of St. Johannis and, in a fixed liturgical sequence, the other four city churches of St. Jacobi , St. Marien , St. Albani and St. Nikolai as well as the supervision of all church music that takes place in Göttingen.

Several disputes with the Göttingen pastors, the city council and a conflict with Rudorff's university colleague Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749-1818) are documented from Rudorff's term of office . Rudorff was married, at least one daughter is verifiable, but he never achieved Göttingen citizenship.

The music composed by Rudorff met with praise and recognition. Göttingen efforts to give him the post of music director, which his predecessor Schweinitz had already enjoyed, went unanswered by the royal government in Hanover. Rudorff died on July 13, 1796 - the death entry speaks of "hemorrhoidal cramps" - and was buried with an honorable funeral in the Bartholomäusfriedhof .

plant

Rudorff's work , which has only been preserved in copies, is limited to twelve cantatas , which were arranged in a catalog raisonné by the Göttingen conductor Antonius Adamske . A cantata for the 62nd birthday of the Göttingen professor Christian Friedrich Georg Meisters, a passion oratorio and two cantatas for the university seminar (1787) based on texts by Gottfried August Bürger and Christoph Wilhelm Mitscherlich must be considered lost.

• Awake to the Joy of Mortal Choirs, CFR-WV 1
• His eye has now seen you, CFR-WV 2
• He is no more! so whined, CFR-WV 3
• The world is beautiful but it should no longer bewitch us, CFR-WV 4
• Holy is the Lord of Heavens, CFR-WV 5
• Praise you heavens the Lord, CFR-WV 6
• On your knees, you brothers, kneel down in adoration, CFR-WV 11
• The joyous song spreads through you, CFR-WV 12
• Lord, open my lips, CFR-WV 13
• Praise the Lord, praise you servants of the Lord, CFR-WV 14
• Sing a new song to the Lord, CFR-WV 15
• Gladly thank the Lord, CFR-WV 22

literature

• Karl Heinz Bielefeld: On the history of Protestant church music in Göttingen from the beginning to the end of the 19th century: an overview. In: Hundert Jahre S. Jacobi-Kantorei Göttingen 1891–1991. Göttingen 1991, pp. 11-24.
• Ernst Böhme, Rudolf Vierhaus (ed.): Göttingen. History of a university town. From the Thirty Years War to the annexation to Prussia - the rise as a university town (1648–1866). Vol. 2. Göttingen 1987.
• Heinrich Bremer: Contribution to the history of the Seven Years' War. ( Warburg district calendar 1926 ).
• Burkhard Egdorf: From town music in the 19th century to the founding of the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra. A contribution to the communal music history of Göttingen. Goettingen 1989.
• Robert Eitner : Bibliographical source lexicon of the musicians and music scholars of the Christian era up to the middle of the nineteenth century. Vol. 8, Leipzig 1903.
• Claudia Engmann, Bernd Wiechert: "Day full of grace, full of splendor". For the musical design of university anniversaries in the 18th and 19th centuries. A contribution to the history of music in Göttingen. In: Göttinger Jahrbuch, 39 (1991), pp. 61–96.
• Axel Fischer: The scientific of art. Johann Nikolaus Forkel as Academic Music Director in Göttingen ( Treatises on Music History, Volume 27). Göttingen 2015.
• Johann Stephan Pütter: Attempt of an academic scholarly story from the Georg-August University in Göttingen. Goettingen 1765.
• Albrecht Saathoff : From Göttingen's church history. Festschrift for the 400th anniversary of the Reformation on October 21, 1929. Göttingen 1929.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Göttingen, Lower Saxony State and University Library (D-Gs), editorial appendix in Rudorff's collection of cantatas (2 | o Cod. Ms. philos. 84 | v)
2. ↑ Göttingen, StadtArchiv, AA, Schulsachen No. 2, Vol. 1–3, personnel file, Rudorff's application for employment.
3. ↑ Göttingen, StadtArchiv, AA, Schulsachen No. 2, Vol. 1–3, personal file, letter of recommendation from Schlözer.
4. ↑ Göttingen, StadtArchiv, AA, Schulsachen No. 2, Vol. 1–3, Rudorff personnel file, confirmation of employment.
5. ↑ Göttingen, Ev.-luth. Church registry office, city superintendent, Generalia A307, church music 1648–1914.
6. ↑ Göttingen, University Archives, Hdschr.-Abt .; Papers of the Privy Councilor Christian Gottlob Heyne.
7. ↑ Göttingen, Ev.-luth. Church registry, church records St. Johannis, Buried 1794–1852.