Christian Gottfried Krause

Christian Gottfried Krause, painting by Gottfried Hempel, 1752, Gleimhaus Halberstadt

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

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.
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