Klengel, August (Stephan) Alexander
Klengel, August (Stephan) Alexander
Klengel, August (Stephan) Alexander, esteemed German pianist, organist, pedagogue, and composer; b. Dresden, June 29, 1783; d. there, Nov. 22, 1852. He studied with Milchmayer, and from 1803, with Clementi, with whom he traveled in Germany and later to St. Petersburg (1805), where he remained as a private tutor to aristocratic families until 1811. He then lived in Paris. He visited London in 1815, returning to Dresden in 1816, where he was appointed organist at the Hofkapelle in 1817. He was a fine organist and pianist, and a champion of the music of Bach. As a composer, he was a master of contrapuntal forms; his canons were so ingenious that he was known under the sobriquet “Kanon-Klengel.” His major achievement was an outstanding set of 48 canons and fugues (publ. 1854), inspired by Bach’s Das wohltemperierte Clavier. He also wrote various other keyboard works, including a vol. of piano canons as Les Avantcoureurs (Dresden, 1841), chamber music, songs, etc.
Bibliography
R. Jager, A.A. K., und seine Kanons und Fugen (diss., Univ. of Leipzig, 1928).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire