Graupner, Christoph (EN)

Graupner Johann Christoph, *13 January 1683 Hartmannsdorf (near Kirchberg, Saxony), †10 May 1760 Darmstadt, German composer. Graupner’s first teachers were musicians from Kirchberg: the organist N. Küster and the cantor W.M. Mylius. In 1694, Graupner followed Küster to Reichenbach to remain under his tutelage; between 1696 and 1704, he was a pupil at the school attached to St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig, where he was taught by J. Schelle, J.D. Heinichen and J. Kuhnau; for the next two years, Graupner studied law in Leipzig. Between 1706 and 1709, he worked in Hamburg as a harpsichordist at the opera house directed by R. Keiser; it was there that he staged his first operas. In 1709, he was appointed deputy Kapellmeister, and in 1712 Kapellmeister at the court of Ernst Ludwig, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1772, following the death of J. Kuhnau, Graupner was elected cantor of St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig; however, due to the Landgrave’s opposition, he did not take up this post. J.S. Bach became the Leipzig cantor at that time. Graupner, who went blind towards the end of his life, remained at the court in Darmstadt until his death. J.F. Fasch was his pupil. Almost the entirety of Graupner’s instrumental compositional legacy has been preserved in the Darmstadt library.

Graupner’s extensive body of work encompasses all the genres practised at the time. He composed operas only until 1719, after which he devoted himself exclusively to church and instrumental music. In the operas he wrote in Hamburg, he continued the style of North German composers, particularly Keiser, whilst also drawing on the achievements of French and Italian music. His numerous church cantatas, based on the models of E. Neumeister, often contain, in addition to arias, recitatives and chorales, developed choral parts in the motet style. In Graupner’s later cantatas, instruments also play a significant role. His concertos are structured in three movements (based on the models of A. Vivaldi) or four movements. In concertos for 2–4 solo instruments, the composer employed interesting and colourful combinations of solo instruments. Over a third of his symphonies are in three-movement form, modelled on the works of A. Scarlatti and Vivaldi, whilst the remainder oscillate between the forms of the sinfonia and the suite. Graupner’s late symphonies show the influence of the Mannheim school, and occasionally feature elements of sonata form (thematic dualism and passages resembling a recapitulation). Graupner himself was reportedly an excellent performer of keyboard music, but his harpsichord pieces, intended for amateurs, are fairly easy and straightforward in their melodic lines. The partitas, consisting of 4–11 movements, are usually based on the traditional sequence: allemande – courante – sarabande – gigue, although the final movement could also consist of a chaconne, rondo or variations. The composer gave some of the dances programmatic titles. Stylistically, Graupner’s harpsichord pieces and orchestral suites are similar to those of G. Ph. Telemann. Graupner’s oeuvre, combining elements of the Baroque and Galant styles, which was forgotten in the 19th century, is now attracting increasing interest. J.S. Bach held Graupner’s works in high regard, copying and emulating them.

Literature: autobiography in: J. Mättheson Grundlage einer Ehren-Pforte, Hamburg 1740, ed. M. Scheiner, Berlin 1910, reprint 1969; W. Nagel Christoph Graupner als Sinfoniker, “Musikalisches Magazin” ILIX, Langensalza 1912 (includes a thematic catalogue of Graupner’s symphonies); F. Noack Bachs und Graupners Kompositionen zur Bewerbung um das Thomaskantorat in Leipzig, “Bach-Jahrbuch” X, 1913; F. Noack Christoph Graupners Kirchenmusiken, Leipzig 1916; F. Noack Die Opern von Christoph Graupner in Darmstadt, congress proceedings Leipzig 1925, published in Leipzig 1926; L. Hoffmann-Erbrecht Johann Christoph Graupner als Klavierkomponist, “Archiv für Musikwissenschaft” X, 1953; A. D. McCredie Christoph Graupner as Opera Composer, «Miscellanea Musicologica, Adelaide Studies» I, 1966; A. Linder Christoph Graupners Familie und Vorfahren, “Genealogie” XVII, 1968; H. C. Fall The Passion-Tide Cantatas of Christoph Graupner, thesis at the University of California 1971.