Georg von Bertouch - Norsk portrettarkiv - B000204

Georg von Bertouch (also ''Bertuch''; 19 June 1668 – 14 September 1743) was a German-born

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 ...

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

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

who dwelt during most of his adult life in Norway.

Biography

Bertouch was born at Helmershausen in

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

as ''Georg Bertuch''. At age fifteen he began studying

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 ...

and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

Eisenach Eisenach () is a Town#Germany, town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia, and bordering northeastern Hesse, Hessian re ...

. According to a letter he sent to

Johann Mattheson Johann Mattheson (28 September 1681 – 17 April 1764) was a German composer, critic, lexicographer and music theorist. His writings on the late Baroque and early Classical period were highly influential, specifically, "his biographical and the ...

, his first teacher was

Daniel Eberlin Daniel Eberlin (4 December 1647 – c. 1715) was a German Baroque composer and Kapellmeister. Eberlin had a vagrant lifestyle. After a brief military career (he allegedly served as an officer in the papal army), he worked as a librarian in his h ...

(1647–1715). From 1691 to 1693 Bertouch lived in

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

. In 1693 he took his doctorate in law with a dissertation entitled ''De eo quod justum est circa ludos scenicos operasque modernas.'' He entered military service in July 1693 and was to remain an officer of the

Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian (Danish language, Danish and ) was a Koine language, koiné/mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Denmark–Norway, Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1 ...

army for the rest of his life. He fought twenty-two battles and survived severe injuries. In 1719 he was appointed commander of

Akershus Fortress Akershus Fortress (, ) or Akershus Castle ( ) is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. Since the Middle Ages the fortress has been the namesake and centre of the ...

in Christiania (now

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

), where he continued to live until his death. Bertouch corresponded with several composers in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and elsewhere, e.g.,

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 ...

and

Antonio Lotti Antonio Lotti (5 January 1667 – 5 January 1740) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. Biography Lotti was born in Venice, although his father Matteo was ''Kapellmeister'' at Hanover at the time. Oral tradition says that in 1682, Lotti be ...

. Mattheson dedicated his ''Das beschützte Orchestre'' to Bertouch and twelve other celebrities, including

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

. Bertouch is remembered today for his collection of twenty-four

sonata In music a sonata (; pl. ''sonate'') literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cantare'', "to sing"), a piece ''sung''. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until th ...

s in each of the twenty-four keys, of which only eighteen survive in a fragmentary manuscript. Apart from these sonatas, three sacred

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s dating from the early 1690s have been preserved.Modern edition: Georg von Bertouch, ''Three Sacred Cantatas'', ed. Michael Wilhelm Nordbakke, Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era 151 (A-R Editions: Middleton, WI, 2008).

References

Recordings

*''Georg von Bertouch, Trio Sonatas with pieces from the music book of Jacob Mestmacher'', Bergen Barokk, Toccata Classics TOCC 0006 (2005). {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertouch, Georg von 1668 births 1743 deaths German Baroque composers German male classical composers German classical composers Norwegian classical composers 18th-century classical composers 18th-century German composers 18th-century German male musicians Emigrants from the Holy Roman Empire to Denmark–Norway

Biography

References

Further reading

Recordings