Christoph Förster

Christoph Heinrich Förster (born in Bibra, Thuringia, 30 November 1693; died in Rudolstadt, probably around 5 or 6 December 1745) was a German composer of the first half of the eighteenth century, highly esteemed in his own time for his sacred music. His career unfolded at the courts and chapels of Thuringia and Saxony, in a period when Italian and French instrumental and vocal music was blending with the German tradition.

He began his training with the organist Pitzler before moving to Weissenfels, where he studied bass and composition with Heinichen. When Heinichen travelled to Italy, Förster became a pupil of Georg Friedrich Kauffmann in Merseburg. In 1717 he joined the Merseburg court orchestra as a violinist and later rose to the post of Konzertmeister. During these years he dedicated six sonatas, six cantatas and twelve concertos to the duchess, and he learnt Italian, the dominant language of secular vocal music. He obtained several leaves of absence for travel: he visited Heinichen in Dresden in 1719 and, in 1723, went to Prague, where he met Fux, Caldara and Conti on the occasion of the coronation of Charles VI.

In 1743 he was appointed vice-Kapellmeister in Rudolstadt, having distinguished himself at the celebrations of August 1742 for Prince Friedrich Anton of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. When Graf died in 1745, Förster succeeded him as Kapellmeister, but he held the post for only a few weeks before his death. The sources leave a gap in his activities between 1739 and 1743: Loewenberg placed a post at Sondershausen in those years, although Förster's own application for Rudolstadt mentions only his work in Merseburg, so this detail remains unconfirmed.

Among his instrumental works he is regarded as one of the principal cultivators of the French-style overture, and his symphonies and concertos reflect Italian influence. His chamber music is compared with that of Telemann for its balance between counterpoint and galant melody. Few works were published during his lifetime, although he was extraordinarily prolific; today the existing catalogues are far from complete, and many anonymous scores are attributed to him only tentatively.