Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721 – 1783) was a musician, composer and music theorist. In 1758 obtained the major position of his life, music director for Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia. He kept this job for life.
Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia (1723 - 1787) was the sister of Frederick II. In 1758, Anna Amalia began a serious study of musical theory and composition, engaging as her tutor Johann Philipp Kirnberger. Only a few of her works have survived. Anna Amalia was also a collector of music, preserving over 600 volumes of works by notables such as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Georg Philipp Telemann, Karl Heinrich Graun and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, among others. The collection is today housed at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and is referred to as the "Amalien Bibliothek" (not to be confused with the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, the former library of Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel).
One of the items in the "Amalien Bibliothek" is manuscript Am.B.396, a collection of organ preludes by Kirnberger. Probably they were used in the musical instructions Kirnberger gave Princess Anna Amalia. They vary greatly in scope and texture. They range from elaborate bicinia, through virtuosic trio writing to four part textures. And from short to long. One of the pieces is supposedly written by a mademoiselle Grunow. A name on which no information is available. Perhaps this is a composition by the Princess herself?
All pieces contained in this edition have been uploaded before, either played by Andreas Osiander (einer_vom_weitem) or by me.
To bring this edition to your attention I made a new recording of one of my favourite pieces of the collection: "Komm o komm, du Geist des Lebens"
Score available here:
http://partitura.org/index.php/johann-philipp-kirnberger-variierte-chorale/
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See what ajongbloed used to make this recording