Christian Gottfried Krause

Christian Gottfried Krause (17 April 1717 – 4 May 1770) was a German lawyer, composer and music commentator.

Life

Krause was born in Winzig (today Wińsko, Poland) into a musical family. His father was a Stadtpfeifer from whom he learned to play the flute, violin, keyboard and timpani. Krause studied law at the University in Frankfurt an der Oder, where he attended lectures by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, among others. Baumgarten's ideas on aesthetic had a profound influence on Krause. In 1746 he moved to Berlin, where he died.

Krause's treatise Von der musikalischen Poesie (1753) marked the beginning of the Ersten Berliner Liederschule (first Berlin Lieder School).

Musical works

Gelobet sey der Herr (Cantata) 1758
Der Tod Jesu (Cantata, text by Karl Wilhelm Ramler) 1758
Oden mit Melodien 1761
Der lustige Schulmeister (Singspiel, text by Friedrich Nicolai) 1766
Lieder der deutschen mit Melodien in four volumes 1767-8

Krause's instrumental output includes a small amount of chamber music, orchestral sinfonias and partitas and keyboard works. There are also numerous pieces listed in 18th century catalogues which have not survived.

Literary works

Lettre à Mr. le Marquis de B. sur la difference de la Musique Italienne et la musique Francaise 1748
Von der musikalischen Poesie 1752

References

Josef Beaujean: Christian Gottfried Krause. Sein Leben und seine Persönlichkeit im Verhältnis zu den musikalischen Problemen des 18. Jahrhunderts als Ästhetiker und Musiker. Inaugural-Dissertation der Universität Bonn. Dillingen a. D.: Schwäbische Verlagsdruckerei 1930.
Darrell M. Berg: The Correspondence of Christian Gottfried Krause: A Music Lover in the Age of Sensibility. Ashgate 2009. ISBN 978-0-7546-6429-1
Paul F. Marks: The Rhetorical Element in Musical Sturm und Drang: Christian Gottfried Krause's »Von der Musikalischen Poesie«. International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 2 (1971), S. 49-64.
John Richard Edwards: Christian Gottfried Krause: mentor of the first Berlin song school. 1973.

External links

Free scores by Christian Gottfried Krause at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)