Christian Gottfried Krause (17 April 1717 – 4 May 1770) was a German lawyer, composer and music commentator.

Life

Krause was born in Winzig (today

Wińsko Wińsko (german: Winzig) is a village (former town) in Wołów County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Wińsko. It lies approximately north of Wołów, and ...

, Poland) into a musical family. His father was a Stadtpfeifer from whom he learned to play the flute, violin, keyboard and timpani. Krause studied law at the

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Frankfurt an der Oder Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...

, where he attended lectures by

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (; ; 17 July 1714 – 27 MayJan LekschasBaumgarten Family'' 1762) was a German philosopher. He was a brother to theologian Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten (1706–1757). Biography Baumgarten was born in Berlin as the ...

, among others. Baumgarten's ideas on aesthetic had a profound influence on Krause. In 1746 he moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, where he died. Krause's treatise ''Von der musikalischen Poesie'' (1753) marked the beginning of the ''Ersten Berliner Liederschule'' (first Berlin

Lieder In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French sp ...

School).

Musical Works

* ''Gelobet sey der Herr'' (

Cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

) 1758 * ''Der Tod Jesu'' (

, text by

Karl Wilhelm Ramler Karl Wilhelm Ramler (25 February 1725 – 11 April 1798) was a German poet, Berlin Cadet School master. Ramler was born in Kolberg. After graduating from the University of Halle, he went to Berlin, where, in 1748, he was appointed professo ...

) 1758 * '' Oden mit Melodien'' 1761 * ''Der lustige Schulmeister'' (Singspiel, text by

Friedrich Nicolai Christoph Friedrich Nicolai (18 March 1733 – 11 January 1811) was a German writer and bookseller. Life Nicolai was born in Berlin, where his father, Christoph Gottlieb Nicolai (d. 1752), was the founder of the bookseller ''Nicolaisch ...

) 1766 * ''Lieder der deutschen mit Melodien'' in four volumes 1767-8 Krause's instrumental output includes a small amount of chamber music, orchestral sinfonias and partitas and keyboard works. There are also numerous pieces listed in 18th century catalogues which have not survived.

Literary works

* ''Lettre à Mr. le Marquis de B. sur la difference de la Musique Italienne et la musique Francaise'' 1748 * ''Von der musikalischen Poesie'' 1752

References

* Josef Beaujean: ''Christian Gottfried Krause. Sein Leben und seine Persönlichkeit im Verhältnis zu den musikalischen Problemen des 18. Jahrhunderts als Ästhetiker und Musiker''. Inaugural-Dissertation der Universität Bonn. Dillingen a. D.: Schwäbische Verlagsdruckerei 1930. * Darrell M. Berg: ''The Correspondence of Christian Gottfried Krause: A Music Lover in the Age of Sensibility''. Ashgate 2009. * Paul F. Marks: ''The Rhetorical Element in Musical Sturm und Drang: Christian Gottfried Krause's »Von der Musikalischen Poesie«''. International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 2 (1971), S. 49-64. * John Richard Edwards: ''Christian Gottfried Krause: mentor of the first Berlin song school''. 1973.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krause, Christian Gottfried 18th-century German composers 1719 births 1770 deaths German Classical-period composers European University Viadrina alumni People from Lower Silesian Voivodeship Musicians from Berlin