Christian Heinrich Aschenbrenner (29 December 1654 – 13 December 1732) was a German violinist and composer. He played in court orchestras in Germany, and later was director ('' Capellmeister'') of them.

Life

He was born in Stettin (now

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

in Poland). His father, a musician, gave him early music lessons. From 1668 he studied composition with

Johann Theile Johann Theile (29 July 1646 – 24 June 1724) was a German composer of the Baroque era, famous for the opera ''Adam und Eva, Der erschaffene, gefallene und aufgerichtete Mensch'', first performed in Hamburg on 2 January 1678. Life After stud ...

, and in 1676 he went to Vienna to study composition and the violin with

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c. 1620–1623between 29 February and 20 March 1680) was an Austrian composer and violinist of the middle Baroque era. Almost nothing is known about his early years, but he seems to have arrived in Vienna during the 163 ...

. From 1677 he was in the court orchestra at

Zeitz Zeitz (; , ) is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river White Elster, in the triangle of the federal states Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Saxony. History First a Slavic pagan settlem ...

, until the orchestra was dissolved in 1681 on the death of

Maurice, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz Maurice of Saxe-Zeitz (28 March 1619 – 4 December 1681) was a duke of Saxe-Zeitz and member of the House of Wettin. Born in Dresden, he was the youngest surviving son of John George I, Elector of Saxony, and his second wife Magdalene Sibylle ...

Johann Rosenmüller Johann Rosenmüller (1619 – 10 September 1684) was a German Baroque music, Baroque composer, who played a part in transmitting Italian musical styles to the north. Career Rosenmüller was born in Oelsnitz, Vogtland, Oelsnitz, near Plauen in El ...

, director of the court orchestra of

Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick Anthony Ulrich (German: ''Anton Ulrich''; 4 October 1633 – 27 March 1714), a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and ruling Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1685 until 1702 jointly with his elder brother Rud ...

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel (district), Wolfenbüttel Distri ...

, then obtained a position for him there, but Rosenmüller's death soon afterwards caused the duke to lose interest in reorganizing the orchestra, so Aschenbrenner again had no permanent position. In 1683 he became lead violinist of the court orchestra at

Merseburg Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese ...

, and in 1695 returned to

, as director of the court orchestra. During this time he made concert tours and became well known; in 1692 he played in Vienna before the emperor, to whom he presented six violin sonatas, and he visited again in 1703. In 1713 he became director of the court orchestra of

Moritz Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz Moritz Wilhelm (English: Maurice William; 12 March 1664 – 15 November 1718), a member of the Saxon House of Wettin, was the second and last Duke of Saxe-Zeitz from 1681 until his death. Life He was born at Moritzburg Castle in the Wettin r ...

at Merseburg, remaining in the service of the orchestra at Zeitz, to play or conduct there on special occasions. Aschenbrenner left the Merseburg court in 1719, and retired with a small pension to

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, where he died in 1732.

Works

"Gast- und Hochzeits-Freude, bestehend in Sonaten, Präludien, Allemanden, Couranten, Balletten, Arien, Sarabanten" ("Enjoyment with guests and at weddings, consisting of sonatas, preludes,

allemande An ''allemande'' (''allemanda'', ''almain(e)'', or ''alman(d)'', French: "German (dance)") is a Renaissance and Baroque dance, and one of the most common instrumental dance styles in Baroque music, with examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach ...

courante The ''courante'', ''corrente'', ''coranto'' and ''corant'' are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically pair ...

s, ballets, arias,

sarabande The sarabande (from ) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. History The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance called ''zara ...

s") in 3 to 6 parts, was published in 1673, and was reprinted in 1675 and 1676. It is not known whether the violin sonatas presented to the emperor in 1692 were printed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aschenbrenner, Christian Heinrich 1654 births 1732 deaths Musicians from Szczecin 17th-century violinists from the Holy Roman Empire 18th-century violinists from the Holy Roman Empire 17th-century composers from the Holy Roman Empire 18th-century composers from the Holy Roman Empire