Janitsch, Johann Gottlieb

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Janitsch, Johann Gottlieb

Janitsch, Johann Gottlieb, Silesian composer and bass viol player; b. Schweidnitz, June 19, 1708; d. Berlin, c. 1763. He studied music in Breslau and law at the Univ. of Frankfurt an der Oder (1729–33). In 1733 he became secretary to Franz Wilhelm von Happe, a minister of state. In 1736 Crown Prince Friedrich (later Frederick the Great) made him a member of his personal orch. in Ruppin. He followed Friedrich to Rheins-berg, where he organized a series of famous concerts known as the “Friday Academies” In 1740 he was named “contraviolinist” in Frederick the Great’s orch. in Berlin, and continued his “Friday Academies” there. His Sonata da camera for Flute, Oboe, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Harpsichord, entitled Echo, composed in 1757, is reprinted in Collegium musicum, LXVIII (Leipzig, 1938); another work in this genre was publ, in 1970. A collection of his compositions has been assembled from the available manuscript by Josef Marx of the McGinnis & Marx firm of music publishers in N.Y.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire