Andreas Kneller (variants: Kniller, Knöller, Knüller) (23 April 1649 – 24 August 1724) was a German

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 Def ...

and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...

of the

North German school The 17th century organ composers of Germany can be divided into two primary schools: the north German school and the south German school (sometimes a third school, central German, is added). The stylistic differences were dictated not only by teach ...

Life

Born in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

, he was the younger brother of

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

Sir

Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723), was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to English and British monarchs from ...

. Nothing certain is known about his musical education, though he may have learnt from

Franz Tunder Franz Tunder (1614 – November 5, 1667) was a German composer and organist of the early to middle Baroque era. He was an important link between the early German Baroque style which was based on Venetian models, and the later Baroque style ...

(1614-1667), organist of St. Mary's Church, Lübeck, or his own uncle

Matthias Weckmann Matthias Weckmann (''Weckman'') (''c''.1616 24 February 1674) was a German musician and composer of the Baroque period. He was born in Niederdorla (Thuringia) and died in Hamburg. Life His musical training took place in Dresden (as a chorister ...

(ca. 1616-1674), organist of St. Jacob's Church,

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

. In 1667, he became organist of the Marktkirche in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, succeeding

Melchior Schildt Melchior Schildt (born 1592 or 1593, Hanover – 18 May 1667) was a German composer and organist of the North German Organ School. He came from a long line of church musicians who had served the town of Hanover for over 125 years. He studied with ...

(1592-1667). In 1685, he moved to Hamburg, where he became organist of the Petrikirche. It was there that he made the acquaintance of

Johann Adam Reincken Johann Adam Reincken (also ''Jan Adams, Jean Adam'', ''Reinken, Reinkinck, Reincke, Reinicke, Reinike''; baptized 10 December 1643 – 24 November 1722) was a Dutch/German organist and composer. He was one of the most important composers of the 1 ...

; he went on to marry his daughter Margaretha Maria in 1686. Kneller's son-in-law Johann Jacob Hencke became his assistant in 1717, and succeeded in him in 1723. Kneller was well respected as a musician, and often acted as an examiner of organs and organists. He was part of the group that examined the candidates for organist at the Jacobikirche, Hamburg, in 1720, which included J.S. Bach (though he did not appear for an audition, he was still chosen for the post but had to decline).

Works

His surviving compositions consist of a few works for organ, typical of the

North German Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...

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 ...

toccata Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtu ...

form: free passages alternating with fugal sections; this style was described as 'a free way of composition, not subject to any constraints' by

Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fe ...

(1601-1680), and is thus a sort of ''

stylus phantasticus The stylus fantasticus (or stylus phantasticus) is a style of early baroque music, especially for the instrumental music. Description and history The root of this music is organ toccatas and Fantasia (music), fantasias, particularly derived from ...

.'' These are preludes and fugues in D minor, G major and F minor, originally written in

tablature Tablature (or tabulature, or tab for short) is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches. Tablature is common for fretted stringed instruments such as the guitar, lute or vihuela, as well as many fr ...

, at the church of

Mylau Mylau is a town and a former municipality in the Vogtlandkreis district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany with about 2600 citizens. Since 1 January 2016 it is part of the town Reichenbach im Vogtland. It is situated in the valleys of the river ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...

. They are published in an edition by K. Beckmann, Wiesbaden, 1987. He also wrote a partita with eight

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individua ...

on ''Nun komm der Heiden Heiland'' (Come now, saviour of heathens) (2 var. published in K. Straube: ''Choralvorspiele alter Meister,'' Leipzig, 1907). Three other fragments of preludes also survive. An organ ''

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Ch ...

'' attributed to 'A. Kniller' is believed to be the only known work by a different composer by the name of Anton Kniller.

Sources

* Horace Fishback/Ulf Grapenthin: 'Kneller niller, Knöller, Knüller Andreas', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2007-06-07), http://www.grovemusic.com/ *

Friedhelm Flamme Friedhelm Flamme (born 1963) is a German organist, choral director, musicologist, music educator. Life and achievements Born in Volkmarsen, Flamme who has been associated with church music since his youth, was already active as an organist w ...

: notes to recording ''Organ Works of the North German Baroque III'', cpo records 777 246-2

Scores

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kneller, Andreas German Baroque composers German classical organists Organists and composers in the North German tradition German male organists Musicians from Lübeck 1649 births 1724 deaths 18th-century keyboardists 18th-century classical composers German classical composers German male classical composers 18th-century German composers 18th-century German male musicians Male classical organists

Life

Works

Further reading

Sources

Scores