Johann Gotthilf Ziegler

Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach , formerly of Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin held

Johann Gotthilf Ziegler (born March 25, 1688 in Leubnitz , † September 15, 1747 in Halle an der Saale ) was a German composer and organist of the Baroque era .

origin

Johann Gotthilf Ziegler comes from a widely ramified family of musicians and, together with Gottfried Kirchhoff and Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, is one of the most important representatives of the so-called Halle Late Baroque . His father was the schoolmaster and organist Daniel Ziegler (* 1630 near Dresden), son of the Saxon schoolmaster Johann Ziegler.

Youth and education

At the Dresden court of August the Strong , Ziegler had already caused a stir as a child prodigy, because according to contemporary reports in Johann Gottfried Walther's Musicalisches Lexikon he was able to sing as a four-year-old, played the piano two years later, mastered leafing out at the age of ten and was able to act as a representative at the same age play the organ in church service.

In Dresden, Ziegler received lessons from Christian Petzold , the organist of the Sophienkirche , after which he traveled through Germany for two years to gain experience in various court chapels , including for three years in the Collegium musicum of the Paedagogium regium of the so-called "Frackesche Stiftungen" by August Hermann Francke in Halle.

In 1710 he was a student of Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow and after a short stay in Frankfurt studied law and theology at the University of Halle for three years.

Around 1715 Johann Gotthilf Ziegler received lessons from Johann Sebastian Bach in Weimar , with whom he said he learned the art of choral play in particular. According to Walther's lexicon, Ziegler also studied composition with Johann Theile in Naumburg .

Career history

After the Hallesche Marienorganist Gottfried Kirchhoff had certified him the necessary musical maturity, Ziegler was appointed adjunct of the organist A. Meißner at the Ulrichskirche in Halle in October 1714 . After Meißner's death in 1718, Ziegler was appointed sole director musices and organist at Ortisei and held this post until his death, although he received several appointments from abroad, for example from Reval , which, however, were made less attractive by increased salaries were.

In 1746 he had applied to succeed the late Gottfried Kirchhoff in Halle, but Wilhelm Friedemann Bach received this position.

In addition to his duties as a composer and organist, Ziegler was also such a sought-after music teacher that he had to keep a waiting list.

Private

Since May 4, 1717 Ziegler was married to Anna Elisabeth Krüger , with whom he had five children, including the daughter Johanna Charlotte Ziegler (1725–1782), who emerged as an anacreontic poet. His nephew was the composer and organist Christian Gottlieb Ziegler .

Works

• Four years of cantatas , based on texts by Christian Friedrich Hunold
• Christ's members, Christ's brothers , cantata (1717)
• There you hear, man, what your God's will , cantata (1716)
• Corpse Music (1736)

literature

• Robert Eitner:  Ziegler, Johann Gotthilf . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 45, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1900, p. 182 f.
• Johann Gottfried Walther: Ziegler, Johann Gotthilf. In: Musical Lexicon . Leipzig: Wolfgang Deer, 1732, pp. 656–657.

Web links

• Sheet music and audio files by Johann Gotthilf Ziegler in the International Music Score Library Project