Biography
After receiving instruction from both his father Johann Peter Kellner and from Benda, Johann Christoph Kellner took up duties as organist at the Lutheran church in Kassel once he had visited Amsterdam and the Hague. Keyboard pieces cast in the galant style made up the greater part of his catalog, yet he produced the Singspiel “Die Schadenfreude” as a notable departure. These compositions favor homophonic textures whose voices are carefully harmonized and whose melodies remain both sturdy and lyrical. Sonata and tocatta forms, together with contrasts rooted in tonal centers, govern his handling of fugal writing. Playful keyboard concertos display the dramatic force and weighty climaxes associated with C.P.E. Bach. In his organ trios and fantasies, Kellner united galant gestures with disciplined counterpoint. His command of period conventions is confirmed by the treatise “Grundriss des Generalbasses.”