NeoBarock - Johann Philipp Kirnberger (2020)

Johann Philipp Kirnberger is not one of the great composers in the history of music, but he has a secure spot in musical history as a prominent theorist. His main work Die Kunst des reinen Satzes in der Musik is well known among music historians. As a composer he was forgotten for a long time, undeservedly so, as some of his compositions which are played today and the present recording of six of his trio sonatas may prove. Like most of Kirnberger’s compositions, these trios were not printed during his lifetime, but exist in manuscript form as part of Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia’s musical collection, the so-called Amalia Library which is preserved in the Staatsbibliothek (State Library) in Berlin. It is not possible to date the origin of these trio sonatas. Kirnberger tended to polish his compositions over a long period of time and it is possible that this collection is the result of many years’ work. Some of them may go back to his apprenticeship time with Bach, whose influence as a model can be detected – and so it is not surprising that two of the trios (Nos. 2 and 4) in copied form were mistakenly attributed to the master himself.