Johann Matthäus Leffloth

Johann Matthäus Leffloth (baptized February 6, 1705 in Nuremberg ; † November 2, 1731 there ) was a German composer , organist and clavichordist .

Life

Leffloth grew up in a wealthy merchant family that had been musically influenced for several generations and must have received regular composition lessons from an early age, presumably from one of the Nuremberg organists. In 1723 he became organist at St. Leonhard ; shortly before his death he was appointed organist at St. Bartholomäus in Wöhrd . On concert tours that took him all over Europe, he earned a respected name for his nuanced organ playing and was considered an excellent clavichordist in the 18th century. He could no longer accept a call to Russia as Kapellmeister.

Works

Along with Johan Agrell , Johann Jakob Küffner and Georg Wilhelm Gruber, Leffloth can be assigned to a "Nuremberg Harpsichord Concert School", in whose work the "cantable" polyphonic setting gradually leads to the gallant style . The few surviving works by Leffloth are thematically and harmoniously still rooted in the baroque musical tradition of Franconia and Central Germany , but in formal terms, especially in the inclusion of the rondo , as u. a. recognize French influence in the Divertimento musicale (1726), an eight-movement suite for harpsichord. Two four-movement concertos in D (printed 1730) and F major (printed 1734) for obbligato harpsichord and violin, which belong equally to the early history of the violin sonata and the piano concerto , are significant in terms of development history . In their mixing of church sonatas and suite elements neither in form nor in writing after concerts in the real sense, they are often close to the trio sonatas of C. Ph. E. Bach ; her harpsichord part, however, already shows the diversity of Italian characters in the style of Scarlatti . Furthermore, six solo sonatas by Leffloth (in C, E, G, D, F & a) for violin or flute and bc have been preserved (printed in 1729). From his cantata for the Raths election in Wehrd (probably one of his last works) only the text still exists. As missing apply Sonata e fuga for Harpsichord (1725), two sonatas for harpsichord and violin and a Concerto in G Major for Harpsichord, Two Violins and bc

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• Franz Krautwurst :  Leffloth (Löffelloth), Johann Matthäus. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , p. 55 ( digitized version ).

Web links

• Works by and about Johann Matthäus Leffloth in the catalog of the German National Library