Georg Caspar Wecker (

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

2 April 1632 – 20 April 1695) was a German

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

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 ...

. A minor composer of the Nuremberg school, Wecker is now best remembered as one of

Johann Pachelbel Johann Pachelbel (baptised – buried 9 March 1706; also Bachelbel) was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secularity, secular music, and h ...

's first teachers. Wecker was born and spent all his life in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

. He received his first music lessons from his father Johann, and at the age of 15 he was already allowed to play the church organ. From 1651 he served as organist of St. Walpurg, then in 1654 he became organist of the Frauenkirche. Four years later he became organist of the Egidienkirche, the third most important position of its kind in the city. He spent 28 years working there, until in 1686 he got the job at the main Nuremberg parish church of the time, St. Sebald. Wecker occupied this position until his death in 1695 and was succeeded by

. An acclaimed teacher, Wecker was, along with

Heinrich Schwemmer Heinrich Schwemmer (28 March 1621 – 31 May 1696) was a German music teacher and composer. He was born in Gumpertshausen bei Hallburg, Lower Franconia, and moved with his mother to Weimar after his father’s death in 1627, to get away from ...

, an important link in the 17th century Nuremberg teacher-pupil tradition. Himself a pupil of Kindermann, he taught keyboard instruments and composition to

Johann Krieger Johann Krieger (28 December 1651 – 18 July 1735) was a German composer and organist, younger brother of Johann Philipp Krieger. Born in Nuremberg, he worked at Bayreuth, Zeitz, and Greiz before settling in Zittau. He was one of the most importa ...

and Johann Pachelbel. Few of his works survive to this day: several cantatas, some 40 songs and 4 keyboard fugues.

References

*Harold E. Samuel. "Georg Caspar Wecker", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', ed. L. Macy
grovemusic.com
.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wecker, Georg Caspar German Baroque composers German classical organists Organists and composers in the South German tradition German male organists 1632 births 1695 deaths Pupils of Johann Erasmus Kindermann 17th-century classical composers German male classical composers 17th-century male musicians Male classical organists