Johann Georg Röllig

Johann Georg Röllig (Berggiesshübel, near Pirna, 1710 – Zerbst, 1790) was a German composer whose career was spent almost entirely at the court of Anhalt-Zerbst. He is of interest chiefly as a witness to the transition from the strict Baroque style to the idiom that became dominant around the middle of the eighteenth century.

His early training was entrusted to J. B. Grellmann, rector of the school in his native town. Between 1727 and 1735 he studied at the Kreuzschule in Dresden, where he learnt the harpsichord and organ under Karl Hartwig, composition under T. C. Reinhold, cantor of the Kreuzkirche, and the cello. His friendship with Zelenka allowed him to deepen his craft, particularly in orchestration, and by then he was already composing sacred and instrumental music successfully, some cantatas of which survive.

Around 1735 he left Dresden to study theology for two and a half years at the University of Leipzig. There he probably came into contact with J. S. Bach. An old reference places sixty-five of Röllig's cantatas at the Thomasschule, and Schering records that his St Matthew Passion was performed in Leipzig under Bach's direction; both claims should be treated with caution. Prince Johann August of Anhalt-Zerbst heard him play the organ in Leipzig and in 1737 appointed him organist and chamber musician to the court. After Johann August's death in 1742, Christian August promoted him to vice-Kapellmeister, and following Fasch's death in 1758 he became acting Kapellmeister and councillor. He also taught the harpsichord to several princes and princesses of Zerbst, among them Sophie Auguste Fredericke, the future Catherine the Great of Russia. He married twice, and in neither case did he have children.

Gerber regarded him as one of the finest and most industrious composers of the eighteenth century. The bulk of his output was sacred music, symphonies and concertos, though little of the concertos survives; the Breitkopf catalogue, in which he is widely represented, gives some idea of his volume. His cantatas and the fragments of the St Matthew Passion show him firmly rooted in the rigorous Baroque tradition. His later works, such as the St Mark Passion and the motets, by contrast reflect the stylistic changes of the mid-century, and his vocal works resemble those of G. A. Homilius.

Today his legacy is known chiefly through cantatas, fragmentary passions and symphonies preserved in European libraries, and through the documentation of the Zerbst court. His work allows us to follow closely the evolution of German Protestant musical taste between Bach and the early Classical period.