Johann Friedrich Agricola

Johann Friedrich Agricola (Dobitschen, Saxe-Altenburg, 1720 – Berlin, 1774) was a central figure in Berlin's musical life in the eighteenth century, at once a composer, organist, conductor and, above all, a writer on music. His father was a government agent and jurist. Burney, who visited him in 1772, recorded the claim that his mother was related to Handel, although this has never been confirmed, so it is probably a doubtful detail.

He began studying music as a child. In 1738 he entered the University of Leipzig to read law, although during those years he was a pupil of J. S. Bach. In 1741 he moved to Berlin, where he became a pupil of Quantz and formed a friendship with C. P. E. Bach and C. H. Graun. From there he developed an activity that embraced many areas of Berlin's musical life, although his most lasting contribution was his writing on music. In 1749 and 1751 he published, under the pseudonym "Flavio Anicio Olibrio", pamphlets defending Italian music against Marpurg. Together with C. P. E. Bach he wrote the obituary of J. S. Bach (1754), a text that served as the basis for later biographies. His translation of Tosi's Opinioni (1757), with his own notes, is regarded as a landmark in the teaching of singing. For several years he wrote articles for Nicolai's Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek, where his conservatism is evident, for example in his judgements of Gluck's operas.

His career as an opera composer was shaped by the patronage of Frederick the Great, which first favoured him and then thwarted him. His intermezzo Il filosofo convinto in amore was successfully premiered in Potsdam in 1750, and the following year the king appointed him court composer. That same year he married the singer Benedetta Emilia Molteni, which contravened the royal rule requiring singers to remain unmarried, and the punishment was a reduction in their joint salary. After Graun's death in 1759 he was appointed musical director of the opera, but the monarch's criticisms of his operas were constant and harsh.

As a performer and teacher he excelled more than as an opera composer. He sang the tenor role in the premiere of Graun's Tod Jesu in 1755 and, according to Burney, was considered the finest organist in Berlin. Today he is remembered above all for his writings, especially his study of melody (1771).