Kremberg, Jakob (EN)

Kremberg, Kremberger, Krembergh, Cremberg, Cranbrook, Jakob, James, *baptised 12 May 1652 Warsaw, buried 20 September 1715 London, composer, instrumentalist, and poet. He was the son of Michael Kremberger, the carpenter of King Władysław IV and Jan II Kazimierz, and his wife Margareth. Kremberg spent his early youth in Warsaw, where he was probably a violist in the royal ensemble. In 1672, he enrolled at the University of Leipzig. In 1677 or earlier, he became a musician for the Duke-Administrator of Magdeburg, who resided in Halle. In 1678, he left for Stockholm, where he was a member of the royal ensemble for several years; in the early 1680s, he returned to Germany where he was an alto at the court of John George III, Elector of Saxony, and then John George IV in Dresden. Between 1693 and 1695, together with J.S. Kusser, he leased the opera house in Hamburg, after which he spent some time in Leiden and then probably in Italy. In 1697, he arrived in London (R. Eitner’s information about his stay in Warsaw at the court of Augustus II has not been confirmed). On 24 November 1697, his concert at Hickford’s Dancing School was announced. The next record of Kremberg dates from 1702, when he was teaching the children of Lady Grisell Baillie of Mellerstain House in Scotland. From April 1706 he served as a musician at the English royal court (on the title page of a collection of airs published in 1706 he was described as “one of the Gentlemen of Her Majesty’s Music”; in 1706 he also composed a masque for Queen Anne’s birthday). In 1710, he was the only foreigner in the “24 violins” ensemble. On 23 September 1715, his place in the royal ensemble was taken by J. Moore. Kremberg was married to Dorothy Sophia. His son was probably James Kremberg, who had four children baptised at St Andrew’s Church (Holborn) in London between 1715 and 1722. 

Kremberg’s artistically developed and highly evocative songwriting, which differs significantly from the legacy of A. Krieger or C. Ch. Dedekind, constitutes a breakthrough in German accompanied song at the end of the 17th century. The songs collected in Musicalische Gemüths-Ergötzung were written over many years (in the preface to this collection, the author noted that he wrote them in Magdeburg, Sweden, and Dresden); 16 of these songs are set to the composer’s own texts. The sonatas included in this collection are of particular interest to scholars of early-music performance practice due to their explicit guidance regarding the performing ensemble (plucked or bowed instruments) and the precise notation (written directly in the score or described in the introduction) of ornamentation, which indicate the difference between the same piece performed on the angélique lute, viola, and guitar. 

Literature: E. Chamberlayne The Present State of England, nos. 22 and 23, London 1708, 1710; G. Miege The Present State of Great Britain, nos. 2, 3 and 4, London 1711, 1716, 1718; M. Fiirstenau Zur Geschichte der Musik und des Theaters am Hofe zu Dresden, Dresden 1861, reprint 1971; M. Friedlander Das deutsche Lied im 18. Jahrhundert, vol. 1, Leipzig 1909 (contains 3 arias from Musicalische Gemüths-Ergötzung); J. Wolf Handbuch der Notationskunde, vol. 2, Leipzig 1919 (contains one aria from Musicalische Gemüths-Ergötzung); W. Boetticher Studien zur solistischen Lautenpraxis des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, Berlin 1943; D. Johnson Music and Society in Lowland Scotland in Eighteenth Century, London 1972; B. Przybyszewska-Jarmińska Nieznane fakty do biografii Jakuba Kremberga  i jego rodziny z archiwaliów warszawskich, “Muzyka” LVII 2012 no. 3.