Johann Pfeiffer (composer)

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Johann Pfeiffer (born January 1, 1697 in Nuremberg , † October 11, 1761 in Bayreuth ) was a German composer and conductor of the late Baroque era.

Life

In his youth, Johann Pfeiffer had music lessons from various teachers in his hometown of Nuremberg. After studying law in Leipzig and Halle, he was employed as a violinist for six months in the court orchestra of Count Heinrich Reuss-Schleiz . From 1720 he became a violinist in the court orchestra in Weimar. In 1726 he became concert master, and Duke Ernst August gave him a valuable violin by Jakob Stainer for his birthday . In 1729 and 1730 he accompanied his employer on a journey through Holland, the Habsburg Netherlands and France. In 1732 Pfeiffer worked in Berlin for a few months before he became court music director of Margrave Friedrich III in 1734 on the recommendation of Crown Prince Friedrich . in Bayreuth. Margravine Wilhelmine received composition, violin and figured bass lessons from Pfeiffer. In Bayreuth he joined the Masonic Lodge Zur Sonne .

plant

A large part of Pfeiffer's works is believed to have been lost; some of the symphonies ascribed to him could possibly come from his son Johann Michael Pfeiffer (around 1750 to after 1800). Pfeiffer also composed for the stage, especially for the Margravial Opera House , which was built at the instigation of Wilhelmine and her husband in Bayreuth, one of the few surviving German baroque theaters. Several of his sacred compositions have been confused with those of other composers named Pfeiffer, since all of his manuscripts were only marked with " del Sign. Pfeiffer ". His surviving works show late Baroque southern German features with Italian influence. The closeness to Johann Sebastian Bach's suites can be felt in his orchestral suites .

The technical requirements in his preserved concerts and chamber music works are very different, presumably he composed some of the works for his own use and other works, in turn, which meet more enthusiastic demands, for his respective employers and their courtiers. The numerous entries in Breitkopf & Härtel's catalogs from the 1760s testify to the popularity of his works .

literature

  • Ina Sander: Johann Pfeiffer. Life and work of the last Kapellmeister at the Margravial Court of Bayreuth . Archive for the history of Upper Franconia, vol. 46 Bayreuth 1966, pp. 128–181.

Web links

Sheet music and audio files by Johann Pfeiffer (composer) in the International Music Score Library Project

Chamber music for wind instruments, strings and chamber orchestra at musescore

Individual evidence

  1. ^ François-Joseph Fétis: Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie génèrale de la musique (1864)
  2. ↑ MGG , 2nd edition, vol. 13, columns 463/464
personal data
SURNAME Pfeiffer, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer, violinist and bandmaster of the late baroque
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1697
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1761
Place of death Bayreuth