Christoph Birkmann (10 January 1703 – 11 March 1771) was a German theologian and minister. A pupil of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
, he has been identified as the author of the texts of several
Bach cantata
The cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, known as Bach cantatas ( German: ), are a body of work consisting of over 200 surviving independent works, and at least several dozen that are considered lost. As far as known, Bach's earliest can ...
s.
Career
Born in
Nuremberg
Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
, Birkmann received some musical training. He spent a year at the
University of Altdorf
The University of Altdorf () was a university in Altdorf bei Nürnberg, a small town outside the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg. It was founded in 1578 and received university privileges in 1622 and was closed in 1809 by Maximilian I Joseph of Ba ...
before studying theology and mathematics at the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...
from 1724 to 1727.
Birkmann was ordained in 1732 and became minister of
St Egidien's Church in Nuremberg. He died there.
Birkmann and Bach
In 1728 Birkmann published a yearbook of cantata texts in Nuremberg. Birkmann organised the material for the liturgical year of 1728/29, but it was drawn from texts used in the church music at Leipzig during his stay there. Some are known to have been set by Bach, who was working in Leipzig from 1723. The fact that other librettists, such as
Picander
Christian Friedrich Henrici (January 14, 1700 – May 10, 1764), writing under the pen name Picander, was a German poet and librettist for many works by Johann Sebastian Bach, notably the St Matthew Passion of 1727.
Life and career
Henrici was ...
, are featured obscured Birkmann's creative contribution to the collection.
A Cantata-Text Cycle of 1728 from Nuremberg: a Preliminary Report on a Discovery relating to J. S. Bach’s so-called 'Third Annual Cantata Cycle'
by Christine Blanken, published in Understanding Bach, 10, 9–30 © Bach Network UK 2015 However, according to research by Christine Blanken, published in the ''Bach-Jahrbuch
The ''Bach-Jahrbuch'' ("Bach yearbook" or according to the publication's website "Bach Annals") is an Periodical literature, annual publication related to the composer Bach.
It is published in German by the Neue Bachgesellschaft in Leipzig. It is t ...
'' in 2015, Birkmann was in all probability one of Bach's librettists, his texts including the well-known solo cantata ''Ich habe genug'', BWV 82 (1727).International Music Score Library Project
The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a subscription-based digital library of public-domain music scores. The project uses MediaWiki software, and ...
has recognised Birkmann as the librettist for eight Bach cantatas in total. There is also evidence that Birkmann took part either as a singer or instrumentalist in performances directed by Bach.
Literature
*
References
External links
*
Texts by Christoph Birkmann
gso.gbv.de
* https://imslp.org/wiki/Birkmann,_Christoph/Librettist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birkmann, Christoph
18th-century German writers
18th-century German male writers
18th-century German Protestant theologians
1703 births
1771 deaths
Clergy from Nuremberg
German cantata librettists
Leipzig University alumni