Picander

Picander was the pseudonym of Christian Friedrich Henrici (January 14, 1700 – May 10, 1764), a German poet and librettist for many of the cantatas which Johann Sebastian Bach composed in Leipzig. Henrici studied law at Wittenberg and Leipzig. He started writing to supplement his income, and continued to write even after he had developed a career as a civil servant.

Bach met Henrici after moving to Leipzig in 1723, although there is some dispute as to the date of their first collaboration. Some of Bach's most important works used Picander/Henrici's librettos. Most notably their collaboration was on religious works such as the St Matthew Passion (BWV 244, 1727), but they also produced secular works such as the Coffee Cantata (BWV 211, 1732–1734).

In some cases Picander/Henrici's texts have survived and Bach's settings have not. An example is the funeral ode Klagt, Kinder, klagt es aller Welt, although in this case there are clues as to what music Bach would have used to set the words. The preface to one of his volumes of poetry indicates that the entire volume was set to music by Bach in 1729, although only nine cantatas based on that particular volume have survived to the present day. This may indicate a substantial loss of Bach's music.

External links

• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1990). "Henrici, Christian Friedrich (Pseudonym: Picander)". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 2. Hamm: Bautz. col. 723. ISBN 3-88309-032-8.