Förtsch Johann Philipp

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Förtsch Johann Philipp

Förtsch, Johann Philipp, German composer and physician; b. Wertheim am Main (baptized), May 14, 1652; d. Eutin, near Liibeck, Dec. 14, 1732. He received training in music at the Frankfurt am Main Gymnasium, in philosophy and medicine in Jena, and in jurisprudence in Erfurt. In 1678 he went to Hamburg, where he was the principal composer at the Opera from 1684 to 1690; he also served as director of the Gottorf Hofkapelle (from 1680). In 1681 he took his doctorate in medicine at the Univ. of Kiel, and then practiced in Schleswig (1690–92) and Eutin (from 1692). He composed some 12 operas and a large body of sacred music.

Bibliography

C. Weidemann, Leben und Wirken des /.P. F. (Kassel, 1955).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire