Adam Falckenhagen was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 lutenist and composer of the Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 period.

He was born in Groß-Dölzig, near Leipzig in Saxony, but spent the later part of his life in Bayreuth. He wrote tuneful music which is still played today on lute

Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....

 and guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

. Much of this music survives in the Bavarian State Library

Bavarian State Library

The Bavarian State Library in Munich is the central "Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria and one of Europe's most important universal libraries. With its collections currently comprising around 9.39 million books, it ranks among the best research libraries...

, Munich.

He received his first musical instruction in the village of Knauthain, the native home of Johann Christian Weyrauch. Weyrauch was a pupil of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

 and transcriber of works by Bach for the lute. In 1713 Falckenhagen is mentioned as "gifted in literature and music," and in 1715 as "Musician and footman of the young Lord of Dieskau." The Dieskaus were a family for whom J.S. Bach later wrote the Bauernkantate in Merseburg. Falckenhagen stayed in Merseburg with the Dieskaus from about 1715, until in 1719 he succeeded Johann Graf in the position of Saxe Court lutenist. Falckenhagen attended Leipzig University from 1719 to 1720. It has been suggested that Falckenhagen also studied with Johann Jakob Graf, a pupil of Sylvius Leopold Weiss

Sylvius Leopold Weiss

Silvius Leopold Weiss was a German composer and lutenist.Born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of Johann Jacob Weiss, also a lutenist, he served at courts in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden, where he died...

 (1686-1750), and later with Weiss himself.

Like many of his contemporaries, Falckenhagen travelled from court to court most of his life (Weissenfels, 1720-1727; Jena and Weimar (1729-1732), eventually settling in Bayreuth, where he won the favour of Wilhelmine of Prussia, Margravine of Bayreuth, in 1734. Wilhelmine was a lutenist and sister of Frederick the Great; she invited him to be the court lutenist at Bayreuth. Falckenhagen held this position until his death in 1754.

Falckenhagen's music is representative of the final flowering of 18th-century lute music in Germany.

Works

• 6 Sonatas for Lute, Op. 1 (Nuremberg, circa 1740)
• 6 Partitas for Lute, Op. 2 (Nuremberg, circa 1742)
• 6 Concertos for Lute and Flute Op. 3 (Nuremberg, circa 1743)
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