Justin Heinrich Knecht

Justin Heinrich Knecht(b Biberach an der Riss, 30 Sept 1752; d Biberach an der Riss, 1 Dec 1817): German writer on music and composer.

He had his first musical training (in organ, keyboard, violin and singing) in his native town. From 1768 to 1771 he attended the Lutheran collegiate institution in Esslingen am Neckar (where he was deeply impressed by a visit from C.F.D. Schubart), and in 1771 he became Lutheran preceptor and music director in Biberach. He received early encouragement from C.M. Wieland, who was town clerk of Biberach until 1769. In 1792 Knecht gave up his teaching post to become organist at the church of St Martin, simultaneously used by the Lutherans and Catholics. Biberach, a free imperial city until 1803, had a rich cultural life, and it was chiefly due to Knecht that the musical life of the middle classes in church and concert hall reached such a high standard. Besides pursuing his activities in church music, Knecht organized subscription concerts, wrote many works for the theatre, and offered courses in music theory, acoustics, aesthetics and composition as well as normal instrumental teaching in the Gymnasium (which was affiliated to the Musikschule in 1806). In December 1806 Knecht went to Stuttgart, hoping to obtain an appointment as court composer or vice-Kapellmeister. Eventually, in April 1807, the King of Württemberg did appoint him Direktor beim Orchester, but Knecht resigned the post at the end of 1808 and returned to his former position in Biberach, which he held until his death.

As a composer, Knecht left an extensive body of instrumental works, stage works and church music; as a music theorist, he espoused the ideas of G.J. Vogler. His pastoral symphony, Le portrait musical de la nature (1784–5), was much admired, and was issued by one of the young Beethoven's publishers; it anticipates the programme of Beethoven's own Sixth Symphony. As well as the pastoral symphony Knecht's great sacred vocal works are of some importance and show the composer at his best. Knecht succeeded with his Magnificat and Dixit Dominus in compositional competitions in 1791 and 1800, where he won the second and first prizes. Both here and in his Te Deum with double choir he composed with a higher pretension, finding a good balance between extensive choir figures in strict counterpoint and arias in the modern classical style.

Knecht was particularly well known for his teaching manuals, in particular his Orgelschule (1795–8), which was innovative and influential in its time (Beethoven himself owned a copy of the work); it gives a clear insight into contemporary views on organ playing, sonorities and organ building Knecht's reputation as an excellent theorist and master of the strict style is obvious from the fact that in 1803 he completed J.S. Bach's Art of Fugue to the entire satisfaction of the Zürich publisher H.G. Nägeli, who had commissioned the work. Such works as the Musikalischer Katechismus (1803) were widely distributed and contributed greatly to general musical education. Knecht also wrote for the Musikalische Real-Zeitung and Musikalische Korrespondenz der Teutschen Filarmonischen Gesellschaft (1788–92) and for the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung. He must be considered one of the major figures of musical life in south Germany in his period.