Daniel Croner
Daniel Croner (1656-1740) was a Transylvanian composer and organist of Saxon descent. He is best known for his four collections of organ music, which are among the earliest surviving organ compositions by a composer from this region.[1]
Life
Daniel Croner was born in Kronstadt (now Braşov). He studied theology variously in Kronstadt, Breslau (now Wrocław) and Wittenberg, and music with Johann Ulich the Senior (1634-1712), an organist in Wittenberg who wrote an ode to the honour of Croner. During his student years Croner was an organist at Kronstadt's "Schwarze Kirche" (Black Church). Croner later became the pastor and organist in the nearby town of Heldsdorf (now Hălchiu) where he died in 1740. [2]
Works
Croner's oeuvre comprises four manuscript collections of organ music - fugues, preludes, toccatas, fantasias and chorales - that were written in tablature and were kept in the library of the Black Church.[1]
- 1: dated Kronstadt, 1675
- 2: dated Breslau, 1671
- 3: dated Wittenberg, 1682
- 4: dated Kronstadt, 1685
In these collections Croner not only displays his grasp of traditional styles - not least by including alongside his own compositions the works of older contemporaries such as Johann Froberger, Johann Erasmus Kindermann, Johann Christian Kittel, Bernhard Meyer and Johann Ulich - but also his own lively innovatory spirit. In these collections Croner marks the transition from an earlier polyphonic style to the new styles of the High Baroque. Of particular note was his organisation of works inro complete cycles of keys (such as we find later in J.S. Bach’s Das wohltemperirte Klavier). Other notable characteristics include: - rhythmic variations of choral themes; - the increased use of keys rather than church modes; - and the frequent introduction of the pedal. Croner was a pioneer in the inclusion of instructions for fingering methods on keyboard instruments and the finger extension principle for the execution of preludes and capriccios.[1]
References
- ^ a b c Cosma, Viorel. 'Croner, Daniel.' Grove Music Online. 2001. Oxford University Press. Online resource, accessed 1 Apr. 2024
- ^ Andreas Porfetye. 'Vorwort/Preface' in Old Transsylvanian Organ Music: selected pieces from the organ tablature by Daniel Croner (Leipzig: Breitkpof & Hartel, 1972). EB 8339 ISMN: 979-0-004-17647-4. Online resource, accessed 1 April 2024
External links
- Public domain scores by Daniel Corner in the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) / Petrucci Music Library. Online resource, accessed 1 April 2024.
- Daniel Croner (1656 – 1740) Tabulaturae (Eds. András Pernye, Katalin Szilvia Fittler, Dániel Benkő) Series: Tastenmusik aus dem 16. und 17. Jahrhundert. (Budapest: EMB, 2004 ) Cat. Z7831. ISMN: 9790080087312
- Various performances of items from Croner's Tabulaturae can be found on YouTube'
