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Johann Michael Schmidt (Theologian, Writer, Rector, Pastor, Bach's Pupil?) |
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Born: January 16, 1728 - Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany
Died: April 8, 1799 - Marktbreit, Lower Franconia, Germany |
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Johann Michael Schmidt was a German theologican and writer. He was born the son of Johann Michael Schmidt (locksmith, blacksmith in Meiningen). From 1744 he studied at the school in Marktbreit; from 1747 he attended the school in Windsheim. He studied at the University of Leipzig (enrollment on March 12, 1749), where he obtained his Magister degree in 1752. He was probably a pupil of J.S. Bach in 1749-1750. From 17533 or 17541 he worked as Hofmeister (court master) with Herrn von Wolfersdorf in Naumburg; from 1755 as informant in Marktbreit; from 1757 as Hofmeister with a Baron von Moser in Kitzingen; from 1758 as Hofmeister with a Grafen in Wertheim. In 1762 he was appointed Rector at the Lateinschule in Marktbreit, Lower Franconia; from 1788 he worked as Pastor and consistorial assessor in Marktbreit, where he died. His Musico-theologia, published in Bayreuth and Hof in 1754, contains several commendatory references to J.S. Bach. It is possibly to him that J.S. Bach dedicated his Faber Canon BWV 1078.
Since Johann Michael Schmidt discussed some of J.S. Bach's works in his 1754 publication Musico-Theologia, Löffler assumed that J.S. Bach taught him during his studies in Leipzig around 1749. However, with the Canonischen Veränderungen and Der Kunst der Fuge BWV 1080, J.M. Schmidt only used printed and thus generally available pieces. (The comments on a "Gesprächsspiel" (conversation game) are not to be referred to the Cantata Streit zwischen Phoebus und Pan BWV 201, as Spitta assumed, but according to Hans-Joachim Schulze on BWV 1080's Sonata Wq 161/1.) J.M. Schmidt is also ruled out as a possible dedicatee of J.S. Bach's Canon BWV 1078, which is most probably dedicated to Benjamin Gottlieb Faber (B-37). This means that there are no longer any reliable arguments for a pupil relationship. J.M. Schmidt's stay in Naumburg at the time of his printed writing suggests contacts to J.S. Bach's son-in-law Johann Christoph Altnickol (A-52).
Alberto Basso lists three other musicians by the name of Schmidt who may have studied with J.S. Bach: Johann Schmidt (1674-1746), organist at the Blasiuskirche, Zella; Johann Christian Jacob Schmidt (c1707-1768), his succeessor at Zella; and Johann Christoph Schmidt (b c1696), copyist and organist at Harzgerode from 1719.
References: Koska: C-29; GND: 131683691; Bach Digital: 00004567 |
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Sources:
1. Oxford Composer Companions J.S. Bach (Editor: Malcolm Boyd, OUP, 1999)
2. fine-print footnotes in the Bach-Dokumente
3. Bernd Koska: Bachs Privatschüler in Bach-Jahrbuch 2019, English translation by Aryeh Oron (May 2020)
4. Bach Digital Website (June 2019)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (June 2014, May 2020); Thomas Braatz (January 2011) |
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Links to other Sites |
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Schmidt, Johann Michael (Bach Digital) |
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Bibliography |
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Alberto Basso : Frau musika: la vita e le opera di J.S. Bach, i (Turin, 1979), 25-16
Hans-Joachim Schulze: 'Johann Sebastian Bachs Kanonwidmungen', BJb 53 (1967), 82-92
Sources 3: Spitta II, S. 740; Dok III, Nr. 659; Löffler 1953, Anh. Nr. 4; BJ 1967, S. 90–92 (Schulze); MGGo; Stadtarchiv Marktbreit, Band 131 (Handschriften der ev. Schulinspektion 1550–1792), S. 37f., fol. 95r; Landeskirchliches Archiv Nürnberg, Pfarrarchiv Marktbreit, Nr. 63 (Glückwünsche in Versen, ca. 1740–1750)
Reference 4: NBA VIII/1; Dok I, III |
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