Philipp Heinrich Erlebach

Celebrated for both his religious and secular music, Baroque composer Philipp Heinrich Erlebach was born in Esens, Germany, in 1657. He studied music in East Frisia, where his father, Johann Philipp Erlebach, was a musician employed by Count Ulrich II. As a young man, Philipp Heinrich went to work for Prince Albrecht Anton of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, serving as the court’s kapellmeister for the rest of his life. During those years, Erlebach composed at a furious pace, reportedly writing more than 1,000 works including operas, masses, chamber pieces, symphonies and cantatas. Tragically, more than 90 percent of his compositions were lost in a fire in 1735. Consequently, his reputation as a composer rests on the relatively small number of pieces that survived, including six sonatas for violin, viola da gamba and continuo, as well as the aria collections Harmonische Freude musicalischer Freunde. Erlebach died in Rudolstadt in 1714.