Berlin Palace Concerts – Composers

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750)

Johann Sebastian Bach is, along with Georg Friedrich Händel, one of the greatest composers of German Baroque music. He was born on March 21, 1685 in Eisenach and died on July 28, 1750 in Leipzig.

He started his musical career as a choirboy in Lüneberg. Subsequently, Bach worked as a violinist, employed by the Duke of Weimar and as an organist in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen. From 1708 to 1707, Bach was a concert master in Weimar and after that served as director of music in Cöthen. In 1723, Bach was appointed Cantor and Musical Director of Thomaskirche (St. Thomas’s Lutheran Church) in Leipzig, a very prestigious post that included the responsibility for all musical activities in Leipzig. This position not only required him to compose, but also to teach music and to give concerts.

Luigi Boccherini (1743 – 1805)

Luigi Boccherini was an Italian composer and cellist born on February 19, 1743 in Lucca, deceased on May 28, 1805 in Madrid.

At the early age of 14, Boccherini was appointed to the Viennese Imperial Theater as a cellist. In 1761, he returned to Lucca, where he became first cellist at the orchestra of the Republic of Lucca. Starting in 1765, Boccherini gave concerts with the violinist F. Manfredi in northern Italy. In 1767, a concert tour took them to Paris, where Boccherini’s first works were subsequently published. His talent then took him to the Spanish court, where he served as the court composer of the Spanish infante Don Luis. He later worked as a concert master for the Duchess of Benavente.

In 1787, the Prussian king Frederick William II appointed him as Royal Court Composer and granted him an allowance for his services. This is how he was able to compose music for the Prussian king for more than 10 years while remaining in Spain. Upon the king’s death, his allowance was revoked and Boccherini had to make a living on the retirement payments granted by the king of Spain, which had been drastically decreased by inflation.

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 – 1759)

Georg Friedrich Händel was born the same year as J.S. Bach (1685) and died on April 14, 1759 in London.

Contrary to his father’s - a renowned physician - wishes, Händel studied music and eventually accepted a position at the Hamburg opera. He travelled to Italy in 1706 where he spent several years and learned not only about Italian opera, but also about a new form of orchestra music called concerto grosso. In 1712, he went back to England, the country that was to become his second home. Commissioned by the king of England, he composed several works for festive occasions, for example his “Water Music” and the “Fireworks Music”. After experiencing financial failure with his opera business, Händel turned to composing oratorios. His oratorio “Messiah” made him famous internationally.

Despite having suffered a stroke and losing his sight, Händel was a very prolific composer in the latter years of his life. The highly respected composer died in London in 1759.

Frederick the Great (1712 – 1786)

The Prussian king Frederick the Great was interested in all arts. He drew the sketches for his palace Sanssouci in Potsam himself and had it built by the architect von Knobelsdorff. He also had a very valuable art collection and was a gifted transverse flute player and composer. He had a well-defined yet extremely narrow range of tastes, causing him to largely ignore developments occurring in Europe in many areas. A famous meeting with Johann Sebastian Bach in 1747 in Sanssouci led to Bach writing “The Musical Offering”, based on an improvisation requested by the king.