Walther, Johann Jacob
Walther, Johann Jacob
Walther, Johann Jacob, noted German violinist and composer; b. Witterda, near Erfurt, c. 1650; d. Mainz, Nov. 2, 1717. After a period in Florence (c. 1670-73), he returned to Germany to accept the appointment of primo violinista da camera at the Electoral Court of Saxony in Dresden (from Jan. 1, 1574). He remained there until at least 1681, when he became clerk and Italian secretary in charge of the correspondence with Rome at the Electoral Court in Mainz. He was designated a Doctor in 1693.
Works
Scherzi da violini solo con il basso continuo per l’organo o cembalo accompagnabile anche con una viola o leuto (Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig, 1676; 2nd ed., 1687; reprinted in Das Erbe Deutscher Musik, Ist series, XVII, 1941); Hortulus chelicus uni violino duabus, tribus et quatuor subinde chordis simul sonantibus harmonice modulanti (Mainz, 1688; 2nd ed., 1694, as Wohlgepflanzter Violinischer Lustgarten; 3 works ed. in the Saslav diss. listed below).
Bibliography
I. Saslav, Three Works from ].}. W.’s “Hortulus chelicus” (diss., Ind. Univ., 1969).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire