Johann Becker (Organ, Teacher, Composer, Bach's Pupil)

Born: September 1, 1726 - Helsa-Wickenrode¹ or Epterode² , near Kassel, (Epterode), Hesse, Germany
Died: July 1, 1804 - Kassel, Hesse, Germany

Johann Becker was a German organist, teacher, and composer. He was born the son of Johann Becker (schoolmaster? in Epterode). He was student of the court musician Johann Süß in Kassel. He may have studied with J.S. Bach in Leipzig from about 1745 to 1748. From 1749 he taught in Harmuthsachsen; from 1750 in Bettenhausen; from 1759 in Kassel. In 1761 he was appointed municipal organist at Martinikirche in Kassel; in 1767 municipal organist at Brüderkirche in Kassel; and in 1770 court organist, informant and page clerk in Kassel. He wrote mainly church music.

In an article on Friedrich Eugen Thurner (1785-1827) in the Schilling encyclopedia in 1838, Thurner's encounter with "Hoforganist Becker in Cassel, ein[em] Schüler J. S. Bachs" (Court organist Becker in Cassel, a pupil of J. S. Bach) around 1798 was mentioned. In the entry for Becker in the same work and in Gerber's corresponding Lexikon article, however, only Süß was mentioned as Becker's teacher. Becker's stay in Leipzig cannot be proven, particularly on the basis of the university register. His copies of BWV 547 and BWV 548 may not have been made until around 1779 and the statements contained in his Choralbuch (1771) about J.S. Bach's chorales are based on the Birnstiel edition (1765/1769).

References: Koska: B-42

Sources:
1. Oxford Composer Companions, J.S. Bach, 1999, p. 60
2. Bernd Koska: Bachs Privatschüler in Bach-Jahrbuch 2019, English translation by Aryeh Oron (May 2020)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (February 2020, May 2020)

Links to other Sites

Johann Becker (organist) (Wikipedia)
Johannes Becker - Musiker (Deutsch Wikipedia) [German]

Bibliography

Sources 1: Alberto Basso: Frau Musika: la vita e le opera di J.S. Bach, i (Turin, 1979)
Sources 2: Encyclopädie der gesammten musikalischen Wissenschaften oder Universal-Lexikon der Tonkunst, hrsg. von G. Schilling, Bd. I, Stuttgart 1835, S. 497f. (Artikel J. Becker) und Bd. VI, Stuttgart 1838, S. 640–645 (Artikel F. E. Thurner von E. von Winzingerode), speziell S. 641; Gerber ATL, Bd. II, Sp. 303f.; Dok V, Nr. C 760c; Löffler 1953, Nr. 78; NBA IV/5+6 Krit. Bericht, S. 151, 197, 213, 315, 397; Landeskirchliches Archiv Kassel, Kirchenbuch Epterode 1726

Bach's Pupils: List of Bach's Pupils | Actual and Potential Non-Thomaner Singers and Players who participated in Bach’s Figural Music in Leipzig | Alumni of the Thomasschule in Leipzig during Bach's Tenure | List of Bach's Private Pupils | List of Bach's Copyists
Thomanerchor Leipzig: Short History | Members: 1729 | 1730 | 1731 | 1740-1741 | 1744-1745 | Modern Times
Bach’s Pupils Discussions: Part 1 | Part 2
Articles: Organizional Structure of the Thomasschule in Leipzig | The Rules Established for the Thomasschule by a Noble and Very Wise Leipzig City Council - Printed by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf Leipzig, 1733 | Homage Works for Thomas School Rectors