Johann Friedrich Helbig

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Johann Friedrich Helbig (born April 19, 1680, probably in Neustadt in Saxony , † April 18, 1722, probably in Eisenach ) was a German spiritual poet, singer and bandmaster.

Life

In Johann Matthesons Ehrenpforte Helbig is mentioned as tenor of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum , directed by Melchior Hoffmann , but there is no evidence of matriculation at the University of Leipzig. Georg Philipp Telemann brought Helbig, whom he may have known from this Leipzig context, in 1709 as a tenor at the court orchestra of Saxony-Eisenach . A little later, Helbig sent an application to Duke Johann Wilhelm to be awarded the title "Secretary", which he was granted in November 1709. It is not known whether this title was associated with a function in the administration of the court. After Telemann left there in 1712, Helbig was his successor as Kapellmeister. He may even have worked as a composer himself in this capacity, but no compositions of any kind have come down to us. In 1718 he was appointed "real government secretario". At the same time he was assured an annual salary allowance, for which he "should be connected to the poetry of those years and all other extraordinair church pieces no less to the solitude occurring at our court without further payment to compose".

In this function he wrote the texts for a complete year of church cantatas , which appeared in print in 1720 under the title Aufmunterung zur Devotion . Telemann used Helbig's texts as the basis for his “ Sicilian ” cantatas, which were performed in Eisenach in 1719/20. He set a total of 168 cantata texts from Helbig to music. Even Johann Sebastian Bach set to music a cantata text from him in the cantata Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled BWV 47th

Johann Friedrich Helbig probably married Charlotte Benigna Noßwitz, the daughter of a Leipzig notary, in 1710. She died in 1712. In 1718 he married the maid Anna Elisabetha Schulrabe. In 1724 his widow received a considerable amount from the duke in recognition of Helbig's church music achievements. Helbig's daughter from his first marriage, Henrietta Juliana Eleonora (* 1711) married the pastor Johann Heinrich Silber in 1734. From his second marriage he had at least three other children who died at a young age.

Works

Helbig's collection of cantatas has come down to us in two different editions, which differ in their title, but are otherwise identical in content:

literature

  • Claus Oefner: Johann Friedrich Helbig and Hermann Ulrich von Lingen - two Eisenach lyricists from Telemann . In: Telemann and Eisenach (=  Magdeburg Telemann Studies . Volume 5 ). Working group "Georg Philipp Telemann" in the Kulturbund der DDR, 1976, ISSN  0541-8968 , p. 17–59 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • Brit Reipsch: Music for court, city and private use: a year by Georg Philipp Telemann based on texts by Johann Friedrich Helbig . In: Carsten Lange (Ed.): Composers in the field of tension between courtly and urban music culture . Report on the International Scientific Conference, Magdeburg, March 18-19, 2010, on the occasion of the 20th Magdeburg Telemann Festival (=  Telemann Conference Reports . Volume 18 ). Olms, Hildesheim 2014, ISBN 978-3-487-15197-7 , pp. 136–153 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In older reference works you can find the information 1729 for the year of death, for example Ernst Ludwig Gerber : Historisch-biographisches Lexicon der Tonkünstler. Part 1. 1790, Sp. 620, ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ) as well as with Gottlieb Lebrecht Richter: General biographical lexicon of old and new sacred songwriters. 1804; in both sources in the name form Johann Ludwig Helwig .
  2. ^ Johann Mattheson: Basis of an honor gate. Hamburg 1740. Reprint: Berlin 1910, p. 118, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  3. ^ A b Eszter Fontana: Telemann and the Leipziger Studiosi. In: Carsten Lange (Ed.): Composers in the field of tension between courtly and urban music culture. Report on the International Scientific Conference, Magdeburg, March 18-19, 2010, on the occasion of the 20th Magdeburg Telemann Festival (= Telemann conference reports; 18). Olms, Hildesheim 2014, ISBN 978-3-487-15197-7 , pp. 25–44, here: p. 41 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  4. ^ Brit Reipsch: Annotations on Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Friedrich Helbig and Johann Sebastian Bach. In: Telemann and Bach: Telemann contributions. (= Magdeburg Telemann Studies. Volume 18). 2005, ISBN 3-487-12837-3 , pp. 63–85, here: p. 65 ( limited preview in the Google book search)
  5. ^ Andreas Glöckner: The music care at the Leipzig New Church at the time of Johann Sebastian Bach (= contributions to Bach research, issue 8). National Research and Memorial Sites Johann Sebastian Bach, Leipzig 1990, ISSN  0233-0105 , p. 73, ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  6. ↑ Claus Oefner: Telemann between Eisenach and Frankfurt. In: Peter Cahn (Ed.): Telemann in Frankfurt: Report on the symposium Frankfurt am Main, 26./27. April 1996. (= contributions to music history in the Middle Rhine region. 35), ISSN  0522-6937 , Schott, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-7957-1337-4 , pp. 26–29, here: p. 27 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
personal data
SURNAME Helbig, Johann Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German spiritual poet, singer and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1680
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Neustadt in Saxony
DATE OF DEATH April 18, 1722
Place of death uncertain: Eisenach