Johann Gottfried Schicht

Johann Gottfried Schicht (Reichenau, now Bogatynia, near Zittau, 1753 – Leipzig, 1823) was a German conductor, keyboard player and composer whose career belongs to the musical life of Leipzig in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Born in the region of Lusatia, he was first trained in Zittau by the organist Johann Trier, who taught him keyboard instruments.

In 1776 he moved to Leipzig to study law, but he soon abandoned that course to devote himself to music. He played in the concerts at the venue Zu den drei Schwänen, under Hiller's direction, and also in the Musikübende Gesellschaft. From 1781 he performed as a violinist in the Gewandhaus concerts. In 1785 he succeeded Hiller at the head of these concerts and, later, at the Neukirche as well. He founded the Leipzig Singakademie in 1802, directed it until 1807, and in 1808 was appointed university music director. In 1810 he took up the post of cantor at the Thomasschule, where, according to some accounts, he reached a high level of performance. His wife, the Italian singer Costanza Valdesturla, performed for years at the Gewandhaus until her death in 1809.

His compositions, which include motets, oratorios, masses and cantatas, are now less remembered than his Allgemeine Choralbuch (Leipzig, 1819). In formal and stylistic terms, his works resemble those of many contemporaries and offer no innovations. However, he paid particular attention to the declamation of the text, and his unaccompanied vocal works are considered superior to those with orchestral accompaniment. His most distinctive legacy lies in his work as an early editor of chorale preludes, a Mass and five motets by Bach, as well as a treatise on harmony (1812) and translations of pedagogical works by Clementi, Pleyel and Pellegrini-Celloni. Among his pupils were Marschner, Reissiger and Zöllner.