Kittel, Caspar
Kittel, Caspar
Kittel, Caspar, German theorbist and composer; b. Lauenstein, 1603; d. Dresden, Oct. 9, 1639. He was a choirboy in the Dresden Hofkapelle, where he studied with Schütz, and in 1624 he was sent to Italy by the elector for further training. Upon returning to Dresden in 1629, he resumed his service in the Hofkapelle and was made court instrument inspector in 1632. In 1633-34 he took charge of the Hofkapelle in Schütz’s absence. In his set of 30 songs publ. as Arien und Cantaten for 1 to 4 Voices and Continuo (1638), Kittel introduced to Germany the term “cantata,” which he used for strophic variations. His son, Christoph Kittel (flourished from 1641 to 1680), was an organist who, in 1660, became organist of the Hofkapelle. His son, Johann Heinrich Kittel (b. Dresden, Oct. 31, 1652; d. there, July 17, 1682), was an organist and composer. In 1666 he became 2nd organist of the Hofkapelle, and in 1680 he succeeded his father as organist. He composed a set of 12 keyboard preludes, Tabulatura Num: 12 Praeambulorum und einem Capriccio von eben 12 Variationen.
—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire