Musicians - Johann Ludwig Krebs

Home > Listing Index > Musicians > Johann Ludwig Krebs

	Musicians - Johann Ludwig Krebs

Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713–1780) was a Baroque period musician and composer primarily for organ.

Life

Krebs was born in 1713 in Weimar, Germany to Johann Tobias Krebs, already a well known organist. J. Tobias had at least three sons who were considered musically talented and J. Ludwig was sent to Leipzig to study organ, lute, and the violin.

Krebs was privileged enough to be taught by Johann Sebastian Bach in organ. Bach (who had also instructed J. Ludwig’s father) held Krebs in high standing. From a technical standpoint, Krebs was unrivaled next to Bach in his organ proficiency. However, it was quite difficult for Krebs to obtain a patron or a post at any cathedral. This can be attributed to the fact that by this time the Baroque tradition was being left behind in favor of the new Classical period styles.

He took a small post in Zwickau and later in 1755 (five years after the death of Bach and the official end of the Baroque period) he was appointed court organist of Gotha–Altenburg under Prince Friedrich. Krebs was so desperate at the time, he did not work for money, but instead food to feed his family (of which he had seven children). Despite never being in poverty, never holding a significant post, nor ever being a court composer or commissioned for a work, Krebs was able to amass quite a significant collection of works, though few where even published until the 1900s.

Works

As a composer, Krebs is considered quite gifted with excellent training from Bach. His counterpoint is not as good as Bach (though Bach is considered the ultimate master of counterpoint), and overall, his work is considered of good quality, though at the time quite outdated.

His Toccata and Fugue in E is among his most famous works, and he is sometimes attributed to have written the Eight Short Preludes and Fugues along with his father and J.S. Bach. His three sons went on to become well known performers in their day.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Johann Ludwig Krebs ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Johann Ludwig Krebs; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay