Johann David Heinichen

A contemporary of Bach and Telemann, Heinchen practised as a lawyer for several years before picking up the traces of a musical career that had begun at St Thomas's in Leipzig in the closing years of the 17th century. It was a decision that some suggest was confirmed by a meeting with Antonio Vivaldi in the course of a visit to Italy in 1710, although no firm evidence of such a meeting exists. A number of Heinichen's operas were later staged at Venice's leading theatres. In 1716, he was appointed Kapellmeister to the. Dresden court, an appointment that he retained until his death and that offered its incumbent particularly favourable conditions that Heinichen seized with enthusiasm. The 250 or so works that he wrote, none of which was published during his lifetime, attest to a musical language that combines a solid technique with great freedom of inspiration, while at the same time preempting the Classical style of the later 18th century. Heinichen also wrote a treatise on composition, Der General-Bass in der Composition, that proved influential in its time.