Johann Georg Hermann Voigt (14 May 1769 – 24 February 1811) was a German

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 ...

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

violist The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the v ...

and composer.

Life

Born in

Osterwieck Osterwieck () is a historic town in the Harz (district), Harz district, in the Germany, German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Geography The municipal area stretches along the river Ilse (Oker), Ilse, north of Wernigerode and the Harz mountain range. The ...

, Voigt was the son of Stadtmusikus' C. C. Voigt from the town of Osterwieck in the northern Harz foreland. At the age of seven years, he went in 1776 to his maternal grandfather, the town musician J. G. Rose in

Quedlinburg Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the Harz (district), district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg becam ...

, who gave him private piano and violin lessons until 1780. The death of his father and grandfather forced Voigt to look for other possibilities of musical education, whereby his stepfather also supported him. In 1785 Voigt found a position as violinist at the Great Concert, the later

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...

, in the fair city of Leipzig. In 1788 he enrolled 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 1789 he was also active in

church music Church music is a genre of Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian musi ...

. In 1790 he accepted an offer as an organist at the

Moritzburg castle Moritzburg Castle () or Moritzburg Palace is a Baroque palace in Moritzburg, in the German state of Saxony, about northwest of the Saxon capital, Dresden. The castle has four round towers and lies on a symmetrical artificial island. It is name ...

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 ...

, where as an artist in the end of the small town he did not find the hoped-for artistic satisfaction and suffered from a lack of recognition. Already after a relatively short time he quit the service at Zeitz castle organist and returned to Leipzig. Friedrich Fleischer, Leipzig 1864, . In 1801 he was accepted into the orchestra pension fund in Leipzig. He was a violinist, violist and cellist in concert and from 1801 to 1803 he was the foreplayers of the first violins, later first cellist and first violist. In 1801 he became substitute of the organist Adolf Heinrich Müller at the , in 1802 he changed as at the

St. Thomas Church, Leipzig The St. Thomas Church () is a Lutheran church in Leipzig, Germany, located at the western part of the inner city ring road in Leipzig's central district. Martin Luther preached in the church in 1539. It is associated with several well-known ...

In 1808/1809 he was one of the four co-founders of the Gewandhaus Quartet, along with

Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer (20 January 1783 – 6 March 1860) was a German cellist and composer. Life Early life and career Dotzauer was born in 1783 in , near Hildburghausen. His father, a pastor, encouraged his interest in music. In ...

Bartolomeo Campagnoli Bartolomeo Campagnoli (September 10, 1751 – November 6, 1827) was an Italian violinist and composer. Campagnoli was a virtuoso violinist who toured Europe propagating the 18th Century Italian violin style. He also has a number of compositions t ...

and Heinrich August Matthäi. His son Carl Ludwig Voigt followed in his father's footsteps and also learned to play the violoncello. Voigt died in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

at the age of 41.

Work

Voigt composed twelve

menuet A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually written in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form that ...

s for orchestra, seven

quartet In music, a quartet (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quar ...

s and three

piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement (Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with two movemen ...

s. Among his most famous works is the viola concerto opus 11.

Literature

* Carl Ferdinand Becker: ''Die Tonkünstler des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Ein Kalendarisches Handbuch zur Kunstgeschichte.'' Leipzig 1849, . * ''Die hundertundfünfzigjährige Geschichte der Leipziger Gewandhausconcerte 1743–1893.'' Leipzig 1893, . * Hans-Rainer Jung: ''Das Gewandhaus-Orchester. Seine Mitglieder und seine Geschichte seit 1743.'' With contributions on cultural and contemporary history from

Claudius Böhm Claudius Böhm (born in 1960) is a German librarian and author. Life Born in Leipzig, from 1970 to 1978 Böhm was a member of the Thomanerchor and attended the Thomasschule zu Leipzig. He studied philosophy and theology from 1980 to 1983 in Erf ...

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

, Leipzig 2006, , . * Martin Petzoldt: ''Die Thomasorganisten zu Leipzig'', in Christian Wolff (ed.): ''Die Orgeln der Thomaskirche zu Leipzig''.,''Die Orgeln der Thomaskirche zu Leipzig''
on WorldCat

Evangelische Verlagsanstalt The Evangelische Verlagsanstalt (EVA) is a denominational media company founded in Berlin in 1946. Its shareholders are the and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony. The managing director is Sebastian Knöfel. Book publisher The range in ...

in Leipzig 2012, (p. 111 f.), .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Voigt, Johann Georg Hermann 1769 births 1811 deaths People from Osterwieck German classical cellists German classical violists German classical organists German classical composers Players of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra