Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722); BOH

Johann Kuhnau (1660–1722) was a German composer, keyboard player, lawyer, translator, novelist, and music theorist. Born in Geising, Saxony, he studied in Dresden, Zittau, and Leipzig, where he pursued law while establishing himself as a musician. In 1684 he became organist of Leipzig’s Thomaskirche, and in 1701 he succeeded Johann Schelle as Thomaskantor, a post he held until his death. His responsibilities included directing music at Leipzig’s principal churches and teaching at the Thomasschule; his successor in the position was Johann Sebastian Bach.

Although much of Kuhnau’s vocal and theatrical music has been lost, his surviving keyboard works give him an important place in the history of German Baroque music. His publications include Neue Clavier-Übung, erster Theil, Neue Clavier-Übung, anderer Theil, and Frische Clavier-Früchte. Most celebrated are the six programmatic Musicalische Vorstellung einiger biblischer Historien, commonly known as the Biblical Sonatas, in which keyboard music vividly depicts episodes from Scripture. These works anticipate later program music while demonstrating Kuhnau’s command of contrapuntal, dramatic, and descriptive keyboard writing.

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Read biography at allmusic.com.