Georg Riedel (1676–1738), the "East Prussian Bach": New Findings in St. Petersburg

Abstract:The older contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach, the Königsberg composer Georg Riedel (1676–1738), belongs to those baroque masters whose works have to date been considered almost completely lost. The biographical articles on this composer in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (2005) and The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2001) only contain references to his one surviving piece, the funeral cantata Harmonische Freude frommer Seelen (1706). However, starting with the research of Hermann Güttler (in the 1920s), Riedel has been regarded as one of the most significant composers of Eastern Prussia and even named the "Ostpreußischer Bach" ("East Prussian Bach") or the "Königsberger Bach." Recent discoveries at the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg) have revealed many hitherto unknown sources for German music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Among them are original editions of librettos of cantatas and arias by Riedel, as well as prints of scores and parts for his works. The article analyzes the newly found sources and discusses their significance for our knowledge of the work of this Königsberg master. A number of findings put forward in this article radically change previous postulations regarding Riedel's strict adherence to the old forms of German music and the absence of influences of modern trends in his work. Riedel's role in the history of music is examined in light of these new findings. It is shown that, on the one hand, he ended the great line of the old school of compositional writing. But, on the other hand, he remained open to new trends and adapted new forms of modern musical practice, thus not standing apart from the general trends of German musical culture of that time.