Biography
At twenty-eight Krieger took up a post in Duke August’s court at Halle. When Johann Adolph I transferred the court to Weissenfels in 1680, Krieger went along as Kapellmeister and kept the title for the rest of his life. Already at eight he was astonishing both teachers and listeners with his command of the harpsichord. Gabriel Schutz gave him lessons on several instruments, and by nine the boy could reproduce any tune he heard sung. He later studied organ in Stockholm under Johannes Schroder and took composition lessons from Kaspar Forster. In his dual role as court and church composer he produced more than two thousand cantatas, the greater part of which has disappeared. His output encompassed both sacred and secular works—collections of trio sonatas, eighteen operas on German librettos, and numerous cantatas—while a substantial body of keyboard music, now mostly lost, is also presumed to have existed. The trio sonatas recall Corelli’s manner, and his pieces for multiple instruments and three choirs belong to the earliest stages of the German concerto grosso. His operas tended toward strophic designs, syllabic setting, and plain harmonies, especially in the arias. Once, however, he wrote a da-capo aria for a cantata—an Italian device foreign both to Weissenfels custom and to his usual practice. Although the cantatas outnumber Bach’s by roughly six to one and often draw on madrigal verse with a secular tone, not every work follows that pattern. Typical traits include secular texts, arias, recitatives, proto-concerto forms for soloist or chorus, uncomplicated melodies, and direct rhythms and harmonies. Judged by the standard Bach later set, Krieger’s cantatas fall short, yet they stand comparison with those of Buxtehude and Pachelbel.