Johann Wolfgang Franck

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Johann Wolfgang Franck (born 17 June 1644 in Unterschwaningen, Middle Franconia; died around 1710 in London) was a German Baroque composer who wrote operas, sacred and secular songs, cantatas, and instrumental music.

Life
- From 1673 to 1679, Franck was Kapellmeister (music director) in Ansbach.
- He then lived in Hamburg from 1679 to 1690, where he wrote music for the Oper am Gänsemarkt and served as cantor at St. Mary’s Cathedral from 1682 to 1685.
- In 1690 he moved to London, initially acting as a concert promoter with Robert King (1690–1693) and later mainly as a composer. In London he produced operas, songs for concerts, cantatas, and many hymn tunes.

Works
- Operas: Franck wrote many operas in Ansbach, Hamburg, and after moving to London. Examples include Die errettete Unschuld, oder Andromeda und Perseus (Ansbach, 1675), Der verliebte Föbus (1678), Die drey Töchter (1679), Don Pedro, oder Die abgestraffte Eyffersucht (Hamburg, 1679), and others such as Aeneae, Alceste, Hannibal, Attila, and Diocletianus (all in Hamburg during the early 1680s).
- Incidental music: Notable works include Love’s Last Shift (London, 1696) and The Judgment of Paris (London, 1702); several other dramatic pieces are lost.
- Cantatas: He wrote around 11 cantatas that survive, with many more lost (and 12 lost Tafelstücke).
- Sacred and secular songs: Franck produced numerous songs and sacred works, including Geistliche Lieder (1681), Geistliches Gesangbuch (1685), Remedium melancholiae (1690), and songs for London audiences such as A New Song on King William (ca. 1690) and pieces published in the Gentleman’s Journal (1692–1694).
- Instrumental: He composed several instrumental works, including six two-violins sonatas, though these are now lost.

Sources and legacy
- Franck’s life and work are documented in music scholarship such as George J. Buelow’s article in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and W. Braun’s Hamburger Opernarien in szenischen Kontext (1988). His music survives in part through IMSLP and related archives, which offer access to some scores and references.

Johann Wolfgang Franck is remembered as a prolific German Baroque composer who contributed to early English concert life after moving to London, in addition to his substantial output in Germany.