Christian Samuel Barth (13 January 1735 – 8 July 1809) was a German oboist and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

of the classical period.

Life

Christian Samuel Barth was born in Glauchau, as the son of the merchant George Samuel Barth. He studied at the Thomasschule zu Leipzig, where he was educated by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

. As an oboist, Barth worked from 1753 in the court orchestra in

Rudolstadt Rudolstadt is a town in the German federal state Thuringia, with the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north. The former capital of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the town is built along the River Saale inside a wide va ...

, from 1762 in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

, from 1768 in

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and from 1772 in

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. Finally, in 1786, he became a member of the ''

Hofkapelle A court chapel (German: Hofkapelle) is a chapel (building) and/or a chapel as a musical ensemble associated with a royal or noble court. Most of these are royal (court) chapels, but when the ruler of the court is not a king, the more generic "co ...

'' at the royal court in

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, which was then briefly under the direction of Johann Gottlieb Naumann. On account of his age and infirmity, he was relieved from his duties in 1798 and received an annual pension of 500 ''Reichsthaler'' until his death in 1809. Barth's two sons, Frederik Philip Carl August (1774–1804) and

Christian Frederik Christian VIII (18 September 1786 – 20 January 1848) was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814. Christian Frederick was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick, a younger son of King Frederic ...

(1787–1861), having been taught by their father, both became virtuoso performers on the oboe as well as composers. The youngest son became renowned as a touring soloist.

Works

It seems that most of Barth's compositions have been lost. He is known to have composed an Ouverture in E major, op. 18, 4 oboe sonatas, a Cantata ''Gelobet seist du Jesu Christ'', and at least 4 oboe concertos (lost).The Haynes Catalogue
lists a ''4me Concerto'', which was in the Universitäts– und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt, until its destruction in 1944.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barth, Christian Samuel 1735 births 1809 deaths 18th-century classical composers 18th-century German composers 18th-century German male musicians 19th-century German male musicians 18th-century German people German Classical-period composers German classical oboists German male classical composers Male oboists People from Glauchau