Johann Kuhnau

Johann Kuhnau

Johann Kuhnau (6 April 1660 – 5 June 1722) was a German composer. He was the cantor of the Thomaskirche before Johann Sebastian Bach.

Life

Kuhnau was born in Geising. His family came from Bohemia. He studied in Dresden and Zittau. He went to the Leipzig University to study law. He became an organist at the Thomaskirche in 1684. He became the cantor of the Thomaskirche in 1701. However, he was often sick. He couldn't write a lot of music. So, the town council let Georg Philipp Telemann write music for the Thomaskirche. This was normally Kuhnau's job. Kuhnau was not happy because of this. He died in Leipzig.

Johann Kuhnau Media

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  Kuhnau's portrait, from a hand-colored 1689 edition of his Neue Clavier-Übung, erster Theil

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  Engraving of frontispiece of Musicalische Vorstellung einiger biblischer Historien, the "Six Biblical Sconatas" published by Kuhnau and printed by Immanuel Tietze in 1710. In an idealised music room, the lady can be seen on the right playing a house organ with the motto Dum ludo alludo, a bible by the wall behind. On the left is a clavichord, concealing the tail of a harpsichord.

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  Title page of Kuhnau's satirical novel Der musicalische Quack-Salber