Johann Theodor Keyßner

Johann Theodor Keyßner (also Keyssner) (* between 1708 and 1712 ; † March 29, 1781 in Meiningen ) was a German composer , violinist and conductor .

Life

Johann Theodor Keyßner was the son of the Rudolstadt mountain officer and tithe counter-writer Johann Georg Friedrich Keyßner († 1740). On December 20, 1730, he was employed by Duke Anton Ulrich von Sachsen-Meiningen as a chamberlakai and obliged to participate in church, table, chamber and other music and received 30 thalers, meals at the officiant's table, free quarters at court and an ordinary livery. His employment decree states that he had to wait diligently for lunch and dinner at the princely table, and also copier as a violinist at the church, table, and Cammer and other musiques as no less at Cantzley let yourself be used .

On May 4, 1739 he married Catharina Margarethe Jacobi († October 3, 1774), on June 10, 1756 the daughter Maria Johanna Dorothea was baptized († August 25, 1756).

In 1739 he was also referred to as a princely chamber musician and in 1740 was formally appointed Directorio of the Meiningen court orchestra by Duke Anton Ulrich . In 1746 Keyßner also became the conductor of the band and received an annual salary of 129 thalers. In 1747 the duke had him come to Frankfurt .

His tasks were birthday cantatas on the ducal family as well as church music, on texts etc. a. composed by the court librarian Wilhelm Reinwald . He was also responsible for the acquisition of music, among other things, and for the children from Duke Anton Ulrich's first marriage he organized table music and gave them music lessons. He also had to teach budding musicians. On September 6, 1758, Keyßner complained again that he had meanwhile copied 150 pieces of music and had not yet been paid for them.

After Anton Ulrich's death in 1763, Keyßner still worked under Duchess Charlotte Amalie . He remained in the ducal service until 1781. After the death of Susanna Maria Bach , Johann Ludwig Bach's wife , he represented her unmarried daughter Wilhelmine in the legal dispute with the brothers. In the last years of his life, Keyßner drew up a will and submitted it to the court. Nothing of his work has survived.

Family and descendants

His younger brother was the Meiningen chamber musician Johann Nicolaus Keyßner († July 7, 1757), who married Anna Margarethe Hartung on June 20, 1752. A daughter was baptized on June 20, 1752 and the son Nicolaus Gebhardt on March 1, 1755.

• The youngest son of Johann Nicolaus Keyßner was Theodor Gottlieb Karl (* March 4, 1757, † June 9, 1837). The godfather was Johann Theodor Keyßner himself. Theodor Gottlieb Karl later held the office of church councilor and country school inspector in Meiningen.

• Theodor Gottlieb Karl's son Friedemann († 1851) took over the Meiningen Hofbuchdruckerei in 1832 from his uncle Philipp Heinrich Hartmann (1765–1832);

• The great-grandson was Karl Keyßner (1830–1901), who continued the book printing company.

Sources and literature

• Library of the Evangelical Lutheran parish Meiningen, church book of the Schlosskirche Meiningen.
• Thuringian State Archives Meiningen, Secret Archive, XV T 18, XV T 26/27, XV T 36, XV T 47/48 (catalog of 150 musical pieces), XVII J 1; Hofmarschallamt 1347 (Fourier books 1758–1760), 1348 (Fourier books 1762–1764), 2172, 2173, chamber accounts 1738/1739, 1746/1747, 1749/1750, 1751/1752, 1754/1755, 1755/1756; Library of the Evangelical Lutheran Parish Meiningen,
• Church book of the Meiningen Castle Church, Meiningische Weekly Inquiries and News from October 8, 1768 and October 2, 1774.
• Carl Schenk (Ed.): Directory of all secular and ecclesiastical officials etc. who were employed in the Altmeininger Lands until the end of 1800. A list of manorial and urban, both clerical and secular officials, scholars, artists, etc., who were employed or employed in the Alt-Meininger Lande in the previous centuries (until the end of 1800). have been given predicates. Meiningen 1862, 83.
• Christian Mühlfeld: Musicians book of the Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen. Brief biographies of musicians, cantors, organists, amateurs who were born in the duchy or worked in it. Meiningen 1908.
• Alfred Erck / Hannelore Schneider: Musicians and monarchs in Meiningen 1680–1763. Meiningen 2006, 230-236;
• Maren Goltz: Musicians lexicon of the Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen (1680-1918) under [1]

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Compare the information in the catalog of the German National Library
2. ↑ G. Brückner: Parish book of the Diöcesen Meiningen, Wasungen and Salzungen. 1863, p. 95