Biography
Heinichen received his earliest musical instruction at the Thomasschule in Krossuln, where he studied harpsichord and organ under Kuhnau, who promptly took him on as an assistant. In 1702 he enrolled at the University of Leipzig and completed a law degree there in 1706. Although he began working as an advocate in Wissenfels, the town’s thriving musical scene—home to composers such as Grunewald, Schiefferdecker, Keiser, and Krieg—drew him back toward composition. By 1709 he had returned to Leipzig, where several of his operas received performances. Journeys to Venice, Hamburg, and Dresden brought him into contact with Italian and French compositional approaches that proved especially compelling. While serving at the court of Naumburg he started work on the treatise “Der Genral-Bas in der Composition,” a substantial study of thoroughbass practice that presented thoroughbass study as the most effective route to mastering composition. Heinichen ultimately wrote about eight operas and more than two hundred and fifty additional works. His music is distinguished by its integration of German, Italian, and French idioms; it anticipates the later galant style and largely avoids counterpoint. Instead he favored unusual instrumental groupings chosen to explore timbral variety and nuance. The extensive footnotes in “Der General Bas” reflect this exploratory bent, offering dense commentary that supplies valuable perspectives on his theoretical and aesthetic views.