Johann Wolfgang Franck was a German baroque composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Life

He worked from 1673 to 1679 as Kapellmeister in Ansbach

Ansbach

Ansbach, originally Onolzbach, is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is situated southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the Fränkische Rezat, a tributary of the Main river. As of 2004, its population was 40,723.Ansbach...

 and then lived from 1679 to 1690 in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

. Here he initially composed several geistliche Sing-Spiele for the Oper am Gänsemarkt

Oper am Gänsemarkt

Oper am Gänsemarkt was a theatre in Hamburg, Germany, built in 1678. It was torn down in 1765...

. From 1682 to 1685 he held the position of cantor in St. Mary's Cathedral. From 1690 he lived in London. Together with Robert King

Robert King

Robert King may refer to:Robert King*Robert King, 4th Earl of Kingston , Irish peer, soldier and Whig politician*Robert King, Bishop of Oxford Robert King may refer to:Robert King*Robert King, 4th Earl of Kingston (1796–1867), Irish peer, soldier and Whig politician*Robert King, Bishop of Oxford...

, he went there first as a concert promoter on (1690 to 1693) and was thereafter only active as composer. Besides operas, he produced some songs (especially for the Concerts in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

), cantatas and numerous hymn tunes.

Operas

• Die errettete Unschuld, oder Andromeda und Perseus, Ansbach, 1675
• Der verliebte Föbus, Ansbach, 1678
• Die drey Töchter (des) Cecrops, Ansbach, 1679
• Don Pedro, oder Die abgestraffte Eyffersucht, Hamburg, 1679
• Die macchabaeische Mutter mit ihren sieben Söhnen, Hamburg, 1679
• Pastorelle, Lustschloss, Triesdorff, Ansbach, 1679
• Die wohl- und beständig-liebende Michal, oder Der siegende und fliehende David, Hamburg, 1679
• Aeneae, des trojanischen Fürsten Ankunft in Italien, Hamburg, 1680
• Alceste, Hamburg, 1680
• Sein selbst Gefangener, Hamburg, 1680
• Charitine, oder Göttlich-Geliebte, Hamburg, 1681
• Hannibal, Hamburg, 1681
• Semele, Hamburg, 1681
• Vespasian, Hamburg, 1681
• Attila, Hamburg, 1682
• Diocletianus, Hamburg, 1682
• Der glückliche Gross-Vezier Cara Mustaphaen, Hamburg, 1686

Incidental music

• Love’s Last Shift, London, 1696
• The Judgment of Paris, London, 1702
• 3 lost dramatic works

Sacred and secular songs

• Passionsgedanken, lost,
• Geistliche Lieder, 2vv, opt. bc Hamburg, 1681, repr. in Geistliches Gesangbuch
• M. Heinrich Elmenhorsts besungene Vorfallungen, 1v, bc Hamburg, 1682, repr. in Geistliches Gesangbuch
• Geistliches Gesangbuch, 1v, bc Hamburg, 1685, repr. with works by G. Böhm and P.L. Wockenfuss in M. Heinrich Elmenhorsts … geistreiche Lieder
• Erster Theil musicalischer Andachten, 1v, bc Hamburg, 1687
• Remedium melancholiae, or The Remedy of Melancholy, 1v, bc, 1690
• A New Song on King William (London, c1690)
• 15 Songs in the Gentleman’s Journal (1692–4)

Sources

• George J. Buelow's article in New Grove Dictionary of Music
• W. Braun: Johann Wolfgang Franck: Hamburger Opernarien in szenischen Kontext (1988)

External links