JOHANN NIKOLAUS

FORKEL (1749-1818)  , German musician, was born on the 22nd of February 1949 at Meeder in Coburg . He was the son of a cobbler, and as a practical musician, especially as a pianoforte player, achieved some eminence; but his claims to a more abiding name rest chiefly upon his literary skill and deep research as an historian of musical science and literature . He was an enthusiastic admirer of J . S . Bach, whose music he did much to popularize . His library, which was accumulated with care and discrimination at a timewhen rare books were cheap, forms a valuable portion of the royal library in Berlin and also of the library of the Koniglicher Institut fur Kirchenmusik . He was organist to the university church of Gottingen, obtained the degree of doctor of philosophy, and in 1778 became musical director of the university . He died at Gottingen on the 20th of March 1818 . The following is a list of his principal works: Uber die Theorie der Musik (Gottingen, 1777); Musikalisch kritische Bibliothek (Gotha, 1778); Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik (Leipzig, 1788) . The last is his most important work . He also wrote a Dictionary of Musical Literature, which is full of valuable material . To his musical compositions, which are numerous, little interest is to-day to be attached .

But it is

worth noting that he wrote variations on the English national anthem " God save the king " for the clavichord, and that Abt Vogler wrote a sharp criticism on them, which appeared at Frankfort in 1793 together with a set of variations as he conceived they ought to be written .