Monday, January 13, 2025

January 13 - Christoph Graupner (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for January 13th are here: Richard Addinsell; Gwen Verdon (2020), Sophie Tucker (2021), Christoph Graupner (2022), Gwen Verdon (2023), and Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (2024)

++++++++++++++++++++

 

Christoph Graupner (13 January 1683 – 10 May 1760) was an important German composer and keyboard player.

  


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Coulda Been a Contender


Graupner spent the rest of his career at the court in Hesse-Darmstadt, where his primary responsibilities were to provide music for the court chapel. He composed 1356 cantatas for Sundays and feast days of the liturgical calendar. – adapted from Wikipedia


As critic David Vernier has summed up, Graupner is "one of those unfortunate victims of fate and circumstance – a contemporary of Bach, Handel, Telemann, etc., who has remained largely – and unfairly – neglected." – Wikipedia


In Hesse-Darmstadt Graupner cranked them out,

   (I’m speaking of cantatas for the church),

And so today he gets a birthday shout,

   (If you don’t know him, do a Google search).

 

By scholarly consensus, there’s no doubt

   That Graupner should have had a higher perch,

But Fortune pre-ordained a different route,

   And Fate the Fickle left him in the lurch.

 

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Tales: Great Art Repurposed.]

 


 

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment