There are a great number of composers who for whatever reason fall through the historical net, missing the halls of fame, sometimes in spectacular fashion.
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What is curious is that in their day, many of these creative musicians were highly regarded composers whose music was performed and enjoyed. I can’t hope to include every name from the Baroque period, but here are a few composers who you may enjoy listening to.
Who Are The Forgotten Composers of the Baroque Era?
1. Christoph Graupner
Christoph Graupner (1683 – 1760) lived at the same time as some of the better-known composers such as G.F. Handel, G.P. Teleman, and J.S. Bach. He was a formidable harpsichordist taught initially by his uncle, who was himself a fine church organist.
Later, Graupner attended Leipzig University, not as you might expect to study music, but law. Further musical studies were undertaken with Johann Kahnau at St Thomas School in Leipzig.
Around 1705, he moved to Hamburg to take up a post as harpsichordist with the Orchestra of Hamburg, where the young G.F. Handel was playing violin. Whilst in Hamburg, Graupner composed an impressive six operas.
Unfortunately, by 1710, the opera houses where Graupner’s works were performed were forced to close. Financial problems were rife, and many, including the composer, hadn’t received wages in months.
In 1711, Graupner became the Chapel Master for the Court of Hesse-Darmstadt. This, along with some tricky issues regarding money, was to be his place of work for the rest of his life.
Years later, Graupner did something inadvertently that would help change the course of history. Having been turned down for the role of Cantor in Leipzig around 1723, he heard on the grapevine that one J.S. Bach had been selected. Graupner then altruistically wrote a letter to the council of Leipzig recommending J.S. Bach for the post. Graupner was an extremely prolific composer with nearly 2,000 surviving works. These include eight operas, 44 concertos, and over 1,400 religious works. Some of this vast catalogue is now receiving warranted attention with some lovely recordings of his work.
2. Johann Kuhnau
Johann Kuhnau (1660 – 1722), as you are now aware, was the tutor of Graupner. Kuhnau was the organist at St Thomas’s Church, Leipzig, and later Cantor. This post was his until his death when J.S. Bach was appointed.
His relationship with J.S. Bach was by some accounts quite a close and inspirational one. Together, for example, they examined the new organ at Halle in 1716, and Kuhnau’s nephew Johann Andreas was J.S. Bach’s principal copyist for his cantatas. Kuhnau was a productive composer.
Many of his works are now lost, but thankfully some of his keyboard works have survived alongside some of the numerous cantatas he must have composed during his lifetime.
His music was as forthright and brilliant as his views often were, and he wrote several texts on topics of the day, including modern operatic trends of which he did not approve.
3. Jacques Champion De Chambonnières
Jacques Champion De Chambonnières (around 1601 – 1672) is credited with being the first of the great French harpsichordists and composers.
Such was his and his family’s reputation as excellent musicians that Jacques took his father’s position at the Court of Louis XIII and later continued in this high-profile post with King Louis XIV.
There is scant information regarding his early life, but some indications are that he had risen to a position of respectability and security by around 1630, gaining a reputation as a gifted harpsichordist and a dancer.
It was the harpsichord that De Chambonnières composed extensively for. There are around 150 existing pieces that provide nearly the only window into early harpsichord compositional styles at the time.
De Chambonnières’ fortunes at Court waned over time. To supplement his income, he had always taught harpsichord, with Louis Couperin being one of his most high-profile students.
Ironically, it was Couperin’s brilliance that began to attract the attention of the King, who effectively offered him De Chambonnières’s job at court. Out of loyalty to his teacher, he did not accept, but it wasn’t long before Jean Baptiste Lully became the flavour of the month, and De Chambonnières lost his standing at Court.
4. John Blow
John Blow (1649 – 1708) is perhaps best remembered as the organist of Westminster Abbey, an appointment made in 1668. He was also famously the teacher of Henry Purcell, who took the post of organist at the Abbey in 1679 from Blow, who later undertook a post as Master of the Children of St Paul that he held until his death.
Quite a body of Blow’s compositions exist that are mainly examples of his professional commitments to the Chapel. The extant music contains both sacred and secular works that include Services and Anthems.
His musical style is what I would describe as quite matter of fact. It often contains simple but effective chordal accompaniments that are graced by some exquisitely beautiful melodies.
Blow is also credited with having created an early operatic style with his stage work called Venus & Adonis (1680-85). This Blow described as a Masque, but it looks forward to the works of Henry Purcell, and one wonders just how much influence Blow had on Purcell’s operatic compositions.
5. Louis Marchand
Louis Marchand (1669 – 1732) is another fine example of one of history’s more controversial figures. Marchand comes from a musical family, with his father being categorised as a mediocre organist.
Competition for these posts was understandably fierce, but the gossip that accompanied these roles was often unfairly derogatory. What we can be certain of is that Marchand ascended the ranks of mediocrity to become one of the most sought-after organists and harpsichordists of his age.
Marchand held several important organist positions during his tumultuous life, eventually being awarded the enviable status of Organists du Roy, which placed him in high-ranking social echelons and assured him a stipend of 600 livres.
Marchand’s personal life has often been the subject of commentary. He is thought to have been a colourful personality, prone to rage and paranoia.
His wife successfully divorced him and managed to gain nearly half of his earnings due to his extremely cruel treatment of her. Marchand even dared to cross the King and nearly loses his life as a result.
He was nonetheless a teacher, composer, and performer of great cultural significance. Much of his music has been lost, but some of his compositions for organ, mostly earlier works, show a powerful command of the instrument and Baroque contrapuntal techniques.
6. Johan Melchior Molter
Johan Melchior Molter (1696-1765) is the last Baroque composer I have space to include in an otherwise incomplete list. Molter was a composer I first came across as a clarinettist. In his not insubstantial catalogue of work, Molter composed six known clarinet concertos, making them some of the very first works for the instrument.
Unlike the clarinets of today that are commonly pitched in ‘Bb’ or ‘A’, Molter wrote these pieces for clarinet in ‘D’. Most of the writing centres around the upper-middle and high registers of the instrument, making it sound more like a little trumpet (clarionette) without the characteristic mellow sonorities of the chalumeau register.
Molter spent most of his life working as a violinist and respected teacher in Karlsruhe, Germany. He had two wives and eight children, moving very little in terms of location or jobs in his lifetime.
Molter’s works are vivacious, eloquent, and sensitive, encompassing numerous concertos, symphonies, overtures, an oratorio, and several cantatas. His chamber music output was equally prolific, and there are thankfully now many recordings available of his compositions.