David Funck (1648 – 1699?) was a Czech or German music composer, educator, and performer on several instruments, including violas da gamba, violin, guitar, and clavichord. In addition to his work in the field of music, in both ecclesiastic and secular positions, Funck also served as secretary to Princess Eleonore of Schleswig-Holstein.

Life

David Funck was born at Sankt Joachimsthal in 1648. While the town is situated in a predominantly German part of the modern

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, Funck considered himself Czech, and referred to himself as "Bohemian". He was accepted into the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

, where he studied music, poetry, and law. After university, he was employed by Princess Eleonore as her personal secretary. Scandals seem to have erupted wherever Funck was employed after he left the royal family's employ. Funck was then hired as music composition instructor and choirmaster at Reichenbach. His next position was as organist in the village of

Wunsiedel (; Northern Bavarian: ''Wåuṉsieḏl'' or ''Wousigl'') is the seat of the Upper Franconian district of in northeast Bavaria, Germany. The town is the birthplace of poet Jean Paul. It also became known for its annual Festival and the Rudolf ...

in modern-day

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. In 1694, he accepted yet another organist/educator position in

Ilmenau Ilmenau () is a town in Thuringia, central Germany. It is the largest town within the Ilm district with a population of 38,600, while the district capital is Arnstadt. Ilmenau is located approximately south of Erfurt and north of Nuremberg w ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

. Accusations of sodomy in 1699 forced him to flee with the clothes on his back. His frozen body was discovered later that winter (1699 or 1700) on the road to

Arnstadt Arnstadt () is a town in Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany, on the river Gera about south of Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia. Arnstadt is one of the oldest towns in Thuringia, and has a well-preserved historic centre with a partially preserved town ...

Works

Funck was highly regarded by contemporaries for his performance abilities on violin and keyboards, though he is best-remembered for his compositions for consort of violas da gamba in a collection entitled ''Stricturæ Viola-di Gambicæ''. He also composed a Passion which was admired by contemporaries but is now lost.

References

* ''Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', 2nd edn., ed.

Ludwig Finscher Ludwig Finscher (14 March 193030 June 2020) was a German musicologist. He was a professor of music history at the University of Heidelberg from 1981 to 1995 and editor of the encyclopedia ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart''. He is respecte ...

Bärenreiter Bärenreiter (Bärenreiter-Verlag) is a German classical music publishing house based in Kassel. The firm was founded by Karl Vötterle (1903–1975) in Augsburg in 1923, and moved to Kassel in 1927, where it still has its headquarters; it also ...

, Kassel: 1999–2008. * ''Stricturæ Viola-di Gambicæ - David Funck'', Rebekah Ahrendt, Zoe Weiss, Jane Leggiero, Kivie Cahn-Lipman, & Dylan Sauerwald, New Focus Recordings, New York: 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Funck, David 1648 births People from Jáchymov 17th-century classical composers 17th-century German musicians Year of death unknown 17th-century German composers