Poelchau, Georg Johann David

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Poelchau, Georg Johann David

Poelchau, Georg Johann David , German tenor and music collector; b. Kremon, near Riga, June 23, 1773; d. Berlin, Aug. 12, 1836. He was educated at the Univ. of Jena. After making appearances as a soloist in Hamburg, he settled in Berlin in 1813. In 1814 he became a member of the Singakademie, where he was head of its library from 1832. He devoted much of his time to acquiring a large and valuable collection of rare books and manuscripts. The latter included items by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. At his death, the collection passed into the hands of his son, who sold it to the Royal Library in Berlin in 1841.

Bibliography

K. Engler, G. P. und seine Musikaliensammlung: Ein Beitrag zur Überlieferung Bachscher Musik in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts (Göppinge, 1974).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire