Kühnau, Johann Christoph

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Kühnau, Johann Christoph

Kühnau, Johann Christoph, German conductor and composer; b. Volkstadt, near Eisleben, Feb. 10, 1735; d. Berlin, Oct. 13, 1805. He studied piano and organ with Martin Grosse in Klosterbergen, then became a schoolteacher at Berlin’s Realschule in 1763. He was founder-director of a choir there, which he led until his death, and a teacher (from 1783) and Kantor and music director (from 1788) of Berlin’s Dreifaltigkeitskirche. He compiled several collections of vocal and instrumental works by his eminent contemporaries, the best known being the Vierstimmige alte, und neue Choralgesange (2 vols., Berlin, 1786-90; 10th ed., 1885). His son, Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Kühnau (b. Berlin, June 29, 1780; d. there, Jan. 1, 1848), was an organist at the Dreifaltigkeitskirche from 1814.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire