Gottlieb Graupner

Johann Christian Gottlieb Graupner (1767-1836) was a musician, composer, educator and publisher. Born in Hanover, Germany, he played oboe in Joseph Haydn's orchestra in London. After moving to the United States in the 1790s, he co-founded the Philharmonic Society (ca.1810-1825) and the Handel and Haydn Society (est.1815) in Boston, Massachusetts.[1]

Some historians call Graupner "the father of Negro songs."[2] One historian of jazz writes: "In 1795...Graupner...arrived in Charleston, Virginia, from Hanover, Germany, listened to banjo music and Negro songs, and learned. In 1799, donning blackface, he introduced himself as 'The Gay Negro Boy' in an interlude between acts at the Federal Street Theatre in Boston. This was the beginning of Negro minstrels and minstrelsy."[3] According to another account, thereafter "he specialized in popularizing Negro songs."[4]

In 1810 he organized the Boston Philharmonic Society to perform classical music in reaction to the non-classical syncopation of the fuguing tunes of William Billings.[5] He became "the musical oracle of Boston" from 1798 until the 1815 when he was among the founding members of the Handel and Haydn Society.[6] Around 1816 he directed the orchestra at Washington Gardens.[7] He played concerts in Boston at the Columbian Museum,[8] Conservatory Hall,[9] and other venues in Boston and around New England. His wife, opera singer Catherine Comoford Hillier,[10] also performed frequently.

As a music publisher, Graupner promoted the popular Rudiments of the Art of Playing on the Piano-Forte (Boston, 1806; 2nd ed., 1819), one of the earliest such volumes published in the United States, and possibly the first.[11] He also published sheet music by numerous composers including Henry Bishop, John Braham, John Clarke Whitfield, Muzio Clementi, John Davy, Johann Dussek, James Hook, Michael Kelly, George Kiallmark, Thomas Moore, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Francis Panormo, William Parsons, David Dean Roche, John Ross, Oliver Shaw, John Stevenson.[12]

In Boston Graupner ran a music store at no. 6 Franklin Street, where he also lived.[13] The store later moved to Marlboro Street[14] and towards the end of his life he lived in Province House Court.[15] He died in Boston in 1836.[16]

References

  1. ^ O.G. Sonneck, quoted in Philip Hale, "The birth-date of Gottlieb Graupner", Boston Symphony Orchestra Programme for 29th season, 1909-1910 (Boston: The Orchestra, 1910) p.920ff, Google books
  2. ^ "Did you know", The Crisis, February 1954, 101
  3. ^ Barry Ulanov, A History of Jazz In America (Viking Press, 1952), pp. ?
  4. ^ The Crisis, February 1954, 101
  5. ^ Ulanov, History of Jazz, p. ?
  6. ^ Oscar George Theodore Sonneck, Early Concert-Life in America (1731-1800) (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1907), 306 Google books
  7. ^ Boston Gazette, May 27, 1816
  8. ^ Russell's Gazette, May 16, 1799
  9. ^ Boston Gazette, May 4, 1801
  10. ^ Seymour H. Stone, quoted in Hale, "Birth-Date," p. ?
  11. ^ Rudiments of the Art of Playing on the Piano Forte: containing elements of music, preliminary remarks on fingering with examples, thirty fingered lessons, and a plain direction for tuning. Arranged by Gottlieb Graupner, described at Via Libri: Graupner, Gottlieb], accessed November 4, 2011
  12. ^ Massachusetts Historical Society. Catalog. Retrieved 2011-11-07
  13. ^ Boston Directory, 1805, 1823
  14. ^ Boston Daily Advertiser, February 5, 1818
  15. ^ Boston Directory, 1832
  16. ^ Salem Gazette, April 19, 1836

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