Picander

Picander was the pseudonym of Christian Friedrich Henrici (January 14, 1700 – May 10, 1764), a German poet and librettist for many of Johann Sebastian Bach's Leipzig cantatas. Henrici studied law at Wittenberg and Leipzig. He subsequently worked as a civil servant, so his writing was something of a sideline

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 an especially tragic 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.