Dietrich Becker (ca. 1623 – Hamburg, 12 May 1679) was a German

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist and

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 ...

. Little is known about Becker's musical education. His first position was as

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

at Ahrensberg. In his second position, in the service of the ''Chapelle Ducale'' (Ducal Chapel) of the Duke Christian-Ludwig at

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle (district), Celle in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller (Germany), Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about ...

, he mainly devoted himself to the

. In 1662 he settled in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

as a violinist in the service of the ''Conseil de la Ville'' (City Council) and in 1667 he was named ''Maître de Chapelle'' (Chapel Master). In 1668 Becker dedicated a collection of pieces entitled ''Musikalischen Frühlingsfrüchte'' (Musical Spring Fruit) to the mayor and members of the City Council. This collection consisted of chamber sonatas and

suite Suite may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Suite (music), a set of musical pieces considered as one composition ** Suite (Bach), a list of suites composed by J. S. Bach ** Suite (Cassadó), a mid-1920s composition by Gaspar Cassadó ** ''Suite' ...

s for 3 to 5 voices with

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

. In 1674, his ''Zweystimmigen Sonaten und Suiten'' (Sonatas and Suites for Two Voices) was published. Becker's

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

was among the most significant instrumental music coming from Germany during this time.

Sources

* Dietrich Becker article in French Wikipedia * Dietrich Becker article in German Wikipedia

External links

*
Facsimile in The Royal Library, Copenhagen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Dietrich German Baroque composers German classical violinists German male classical violinists German violinists 1620s births 1670s deaths 17th-century German classical composers German male classical composers 17th-century German male musicians