Carl Heinrich Graun (7 May 1704 – 8 August 1759) was a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

. Along with

Johann Adolph Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...

, he is considered to be the most important German composer of

Italian opera Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous ope ...

of his time.

Biography

Graun was born in Wahrenbrück in the

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

. In 1714, he followed his brother,

Johann Gottlieb Graun Johann Gottlieb Graun (1702/1703 – 27 October 1771) was a German Baroque/Classical era composer and violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (s ...

, to the school of the Kreuzkirche, Dresden, and sang in the Dresdner Kreuzchor and the chorus of the Opernhaus am Zwinger. He studied singing with Christian Petzold and composition with (1664–1728). In 1724, Graun moved to

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

, singing at the opera house and writing six

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s for the company. In 1735, Graun moved to

Rheinsberg Rheinsberg () is a town and a municipality in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, in Brandenburg, in north-eastern Germany. It is located on lake and the river Rhin, approximately north-east of Neuruppin and north-west of Berlin. History Freder ...

in Brandenburg, after he had written the opera ''Lo specchio della fedeltà'' for the marriage of the then crown prince Frederick (the Great) and Elisabeth Christine in Schloss Salzdahlum in 1733. He was ''

Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

'' to Frederick the Great from his ascension to the throne in 1740 until Graun's death nineteen years later in Berlin. Graundenkmal Wahrenbrueck

Graun wrote a number of operas. His opera '' Cesare e Cleopatra'' inaugurated the opening of the

Berlin State Opera The Staatsoper Unter den Linden ( State Opera under the Lime Trees), also known as the Berlin State Opera (), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of P ...

(Königliche Hofoper) in 1742. '' Montezuma'' (1755) was written to a

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

by King Frederick. His works are rarely played today, though his passion cantata '' Der Tod Jesu'' (''The Death of Jesus'', 1755) was frequently performed in Germany for many years after his death. His other works include concertos and

trio sonata The trio sonata is a genre, typically consisting of several movements, with two melody instruments and basso continuo. It originated in the early 17th century and was a favorite chamber ensemble combination in the Baroque era. Basic structure T ...

s. He was known for particularly good text-setting, probably due to his background as a vocalist. He married twice and had a daughter, who became a singer, from his first marriage and four sons from his second. His great-great-great-great-grandson,

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

,'' Speak, Memory'',

, Vintage International, 1989, p. 54. became an eminent 20th-century novelist.

Works

Stage works

*'' Polydorus'' (5 acts, 1726–28) *''

Iphigenia in Aulis ''Iphigenia in Aulis'' or ''Iphigenia at Aulis'' (; variously translated, including the Latin ''Iphigenia in Aulide'') is the last of the extant works by the playwright Euripides. Written between 408, after ''Orestes'', and 406 BC, the year of Eu ...

'' (3 acts 1728) *''Scipio Africanus'' (3 acts, 1732) *''Lo specchio della fedeltà'' (3 acts, 1733) *''Pharao Tubaetes'' (5 acts, 1735) *''Rodelinda, regina de' langobardi'' (3 acts, 1741) *'' Cesare e Cleopatra'' (3 acts, 1742) *''Artaserse'', libretto by

Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti. Early life Met ...

(3 acts, 1743) *'' Catone in Utica'', libretto by Metastasio (3 acts, 1743) *'' Alessandro e Poro'', libretto by Metastasio (3 acts, 1744) *''Lucio Papirio'' (3 acts, 1744) *'' Adriano in Siria'', libretto by Metastasio (3 acts, 1746) *''Demofoonte'', libretto by Metastasio (3 acts, 1746) *''Cajo Fabricio'' (3 acts, 1746) *''Le feste galanti'' (1747) *''Cinna'' (3 acts, 1748) *''L'Europa galante'' (1748) *''Ifigenia in Aulide'' (3 acts, 1748) *'' Angelica e Medoro'' (3 acts, 1749) *''Coriolano'' (3 acts, 1749) *''Fetonte'' (3 acts, 1750) *''Il Mithridate'' (3 acts, 1751) *''L’Armida'' (3 acts, 1751) *''Britannico'' (3 acts, 1751) *''L'Orfeo'' (3 acts, 1752) *''Il giudizio di Paride'' (1 act, 1752) *''

Silla Silla (; Old Korean: wikt:徐羅伐#Old Korean, 徐羅伐, Yale romanization of Korean, Yale: Syerapel, Revised Romanization of Korean, RR: ''Seorabeol''; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) was a Korean kingdom that existed between ...

'' (3 acts, 1753) *''Semiramide'' (3 acts, 1754) *'' Montezuma'' (3 acts, 1755) *''Ezio'', libretto by Metastasio (1755) *''I fratelli nemici'' (3 acts, 1756) *''La Merope'' (3 acts, 1756)

Other works

*Te Deum *'' Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld'', Passion cantata (ca. 1730) *''Kommt her und schaut'' (''Große Passion'') (1730) *'' Der Tod Jesu'', Passion cantata (1755) *''Oratorium in Festum Nativitatis Christi'', Christmas oratorio *Easter Oratorium *Six Italian Cantatas *Concerto for Horn, Strings and Cembalo in D major *

Lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

er (1743) *Sinfonia in C major *Concerto for Viola da gamba *Harpsichord Concerto in C minor *Gigue in B-flat minor

Notes

External links