Johann Christian Hertel

Johann Christian Hertel (25 June 1697 or 1697 in Oettingen - October 1754 in Strelitz) was a German composer, violinist and a virtuoso performer on the viola da gamba.

Life

Hertel was the only son of Jakob Christian Hertel who was Kapellmeister in Oettingen and later Merseburg. He taught himself to play the violin, and from the court organist in Merseburg, Georg Friedrich Kauffmann, he was taught to play the keyboard. After quitting his studies of theology in Halle (Saale), he was awarded a scholarship from Duke Moritz Wilhelm of Saxe-Merseburg to travel to Darmstadt in order to study with the famed viola da gamba virtuoso Ernst Christian Hesse. From 1718 to 1741 he was concertmaster in Eisenach, and then later from 1742 to its dissolution in 1753, he was concertmaster at the court of the duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in Neustrelitz. As a player of the viola da gamba, he travelled to Dresden, Kassel, Weimar, Braunschweig, Meiningen, Gotha and Berlin, to name a few. His compositions include many violin concerti, keyboard concerti, symphonies, ouverture-suites and trio sonatas,^[1] although it is probable that several works now attributed to him are actually by his son.

Hertel's exact date of death is not ascertainable due to missing church records from both Strelitz and Neustrelitz. As a place of death, the royal residence town of Neustrelitz would be more plausible, where the court and court orchestra were located. Both the town Neustrelitz and the entire region of Mecklenburg-Strelitz were abbreviated to "Strelitz" in contemporary usage.

Hertel's son, Johann Wilhelm also became a composer, as did his son-in-law Markus Heinrich Grauel.^[2]

References

External links

• Works by, and about Johann Christian Hertel in the catalogue of the German National Library