Kaffka (real name, Engelmann), Johann Christoph

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Kaffka (real name, Engelmann), Johann Christoph

Kaffka (real name, Engelmann), Johann Christoph, German violinist, singer, and composer; b. Regensburg, 1754; d. Riga, Jan. 29, 1815. He studied violin with his father and theory with Riepel. He appeared on the stage as a singer and actor in various German cities (from 1777), and then settled in Riga as a bookseller (1803). He wrote Singspiels, ballets, oratorios, masses, and songs, most of which are lost.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire