Johann Balthasar Christian Freislich (also Freißlich, Fraißlich, baptised 30 March 1687 - 17 April 1764) was a German composer and organist.

Life

Johann Balthasar Christian Freißlich was born in

Immelborn Immelborn is a village and a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. Since 31 December 2012, it is part of the municipality Barchfeld-Immelborn Barchfeld-Immelborn is a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district ...

near

Bad Salzungen Bad Salzungen () is a town in Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wartburgkreis district. Geography Location Bad Salzungen is situated on the river Werra, east of Tiefenort and south of Eisenach. Divisions In July 2018 the former m ...

, the son of a clergy man. He probably received his earliest musical education at the Court of Saxe-Meiningen, where 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 time was under the direction of

Georg Caspar Schürmann Georg Caspar Schürmann (1672 (or early 1673), in Idensen bei Neustadt am Rübenberge – 25 February 1751, in Wolfenbüttel) was a German Baroque composer. His name also appears as Schurmann and in Hochdeutsch as Scheuermann. Life Schürmann st ...

. From 1709, Freißlich studied in

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

. In 1714, he received an appointment as court organist to the Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen in

Sondershausen Sondershausen is a town in Thuringia, central Germany, capital of the Kyffhäuserkreis district, situated about 50 km north of Erfurt. On 1 December 2007, the former municipality Schernberg was incorporated by Sondershausen. Until 1918 it ...

, where he also had to teach. In 1716, he was promoted to the position of court

Kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

. During his time there, he was sent to

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

in order to study the newly developed

pantaleon Pantaleon, also known as Panteleimon, (Greek: ) was a Greek king who reigned some time between 190–180 BC in Bactria and India. He was a younger contemporary or successor of the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius, and is sometimes believed to hav ...

with its inventor, the violinist and pantaleonist Pantaleon Hebenstreit. In 1731, he succeeded his half brother Maximilian Dietrich Freißlich as Kapellmeister in the Marienkirche, the largest church in Danzig (today

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

, Poland). He also worked as the director of the opera orchestra. Freißlich is thought to be one of the teachers of

Johann Gottlieb Goldberg Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (; baptized 14 March 1727 – 13 April 1756) was a German virtuoso harpsichordist, organist, and composer of the late Baroque and early Classical period. He is best known for lending his name, as the probable original pe ...

. He was succeeded as Kapellmeister at the Marienkirche by his son-in-law Christian Friedrich Morheim, a former pupil of

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 ...

. He died in Danzig in 1764. Freißlich was a prolific composer. His surviving output includes around 90 church cantatas, as well as numerous chorales, secular cantatas and funeral cantatas, an "Operina" ''Die verliebte Nonne'', one Brockes Passion, one Matthew Passion and a Sonata for oboe, strings and continuo composed for use in church.

Recordings

* ''Cantata an dem hohen Geburtsfeste des Herrn Augusti III. Könige in Polen'', FreisWV E 17; Capella Gedanensis, cond. Alina Kowalska-Pińczak; Futurex Classics FCD 01216 *''Der Herr dein Gott sey gelobet (Kantata na uroczysty dzień urodzin Najjaśniejszego Pana, Króla Polski Augusta III)''; Skarby Muzyki Dawnego Gdańskał; Capella Gedanensis; Soliton SCD 058-060, disc 3

References

German Baroque composers German male classical composers 18th-century classical composers 18th-century German people 1687 births 1764 deaths 18th-century German composers 18th-century German male musicians {{Germany-composer-stub