Johann Kuhnau, who preceded Johann Sebastian Bach as Thomas Cantor in Leipzig, left a wealth of works, including pivotal compositions for keyboard instruments. Now for the first time all of these works are appearing in one volume. Peter Wollny, an Early Music specialist, supervised the volume from a scholarly point of view. Ornaments that are no longer usual today have been explained so that especially musicians who are more at home on a modern piano or grand piano lose their fear of this music and can embark on an exciting voyage of discovery.
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Preface
This edition unites in one volume all of Johann Kuhnau’s (1660 – 1722) surviving works for keyboard instruments. It thus contains the four cycles printed during his lifetime as well as the single pieces transmitted in contemporary copies and reproduced in the Appendix. Johann Kuhnau was one of the foremost personalities of middle-German musical life around the turn of … more
Critical Commentary
About the composer
Johann Kuhnau
A composer, organist, and music theorist of the Baroque period. On account of his comprehensive education he is regarded as a polymath who, along with his compositional output, made a name for himself as a jurist and author. In addition to his numerous works for liturgical use, including cantatas and masses, his volumes of keyboard music are of particular significance. He rejected the use of operatic elements in church music, as are found in works of his competitor Georg Philipp Telemann, and during his lifetime endeavored to separate the styles.
| 1660 | Born in Geising in the Erz Mountains on April 6. |
| 1671–80 | He is a treble singer for the town council at the Kreuzkirche in Dresden, where he receives a comprehensive general education. In music he receives instruction from Alexander Heringk and Christoph Kittel. He is supported by the court music director Vincenzo Albrici. |
| 1680–82 | He goes to Zittau and continues his education at the Johanneum. He works as praefectus chori at St. John’s Church. |
| 1682–88 | He studies law in Leipzig. |
| 1684 | He is appointed organist at St. Thomas’ Church in Leipzig. |
| 1701 | In April he is named director chori musici (of musical choirs) at St. Thomas and St. Nicholas. As music director for the university, he is responsible for composing music for ceremonies there. |
| from 1711 | He also directs the Sunday masses at St. Peter’s Church and feast-day masses at St John’s Church. A large number of compositions is written for these occasions. |
| 1722 | Dies in Leipzig on June 5. |
About the authors
Norbert Müllemann (Editor)
Dr. Norbert Müllemann, born in 1976 in Cologne, studied musicology, German philology and philosophy at the University of Cologne whilst at the same time studying the piano at the Music Conservatory in Cologne.
In 2004 he began working at G. Henle Publishers as an intern. In 2005 he became a junior editor, whilst at the same time starting his doctorate at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. He completed it in 2008 with a thesis entitled “Handschriften Frédéric Chopins bis 1830. Studien zur Authentizität, Datierung und Werkgenese”. Since 2008 Müllemann has been an editor at the publishing house, becoming editor-in-chief in 2017. He has edited numerous Urtext editions for the publisher with a particular focus on the works of Frédéric Chopin.
This generous Henle volume offers his complete keyboard works for reassessment. They include the Biblical Sonatas, better known by reputation than experience and full of subtly surprising things. Henle provides full translations of the original texts - plus 14 partitas and 14 sonatas besides, and seven others entitled 'Fresh Keyboard Fruits'!
De uitgave is voorbeeldig. Een overzichtelijke bladspiegel, een prachtig historisch voorwoord, uitvoeringsaanwijzingen, uitgebreid kritisch commentaar en reproducties van pagina's uit historische uitgaven.
This is an excellent volume, bringing all Kuhnau's keyboard works together.
Denn der, zu Lebzeiten eine Berühmtheit, muss mühsam aus Bachs Schatten befreit werden. Dazu leistet der Münchner Henle-Verlag nun einen herausragenden Beitrag: Er veröffentlicht sämtliche Tastenwerke Kuhnaus in einem vorzüglichen Band, der dem Vergleich mit den Klavier-Ausgaben Bachs oder Mozarts locker standhält. Es ist vermutlich die gründlichste Kuhnau-Edition aller Zeiten - und die erste seit vielen Jahren überhaupt.