Knecht, Justin Heinrich

Knecht, Justin Heinrich, German organist, conductor, music theorist, and composer; b. Biberach, Sept. 30, 1752; d. there, Dec. 1, 1817. He was an organist and music director in Biberach from 1771 to the end of his life, traveling only briefly to Stuttgart, where he was court conductor from 1806 until 1808. Despite his provincial field of activity, he attained considerable repute in Germany through his compositions and theoretical writings. He was a follower of the Vogler system of harmony; taught chord building by thirds up to chords of the 11th on all degrees of the scale. He wrote 10 stage works, mostly Singspiels, sacred works, and the programmatic sym. Le Portrait musical de la nature (c. 1784), to which he supplied a programmatic description, seemingly anticipating Beethoven’s Pastoral Sym.

Writings

Erklärung einiger…missverstandenen Grundsätze aus der Vogler’s sehen Theorie (Ulm, 1785); Gemeinnützliches Elementarwerk der Harmonie und des Generalbasses (4 parts, 1792-98); Kleines alphabetisches Wörterbuch der vornehmsten und interessantesten Artikel aus der musikalischen Theorie (1795); Vollständige Orgelschule für Anfänger und Geübtere (3 parts, 1795-98); Allgemeiner musikalischer Katechismus (Biberach, 1803); Luthers Verdienst um Musik und Poesie (1817).

Bibliography

E. Kauffmann, J.H. K. (Tübingen, 1892); A. Bopp, J.H. K. (Biberach, 1917).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire