1697–1773 · Germany · Baroque
Johann Joachim Quantz (1697–1773) was a German flautist, oboist and composer. He spent many years at the court of King Frederick of Prussia, teaching him the flute, composing and making instruments. He wrote hundreds of sonatas and concertos for the flute and a treatise on playing it. The site has several of his pieces.
Johann Joachim Quantz was born on 30 January 1697 in Scheden, the fifth child in a blacksmith's family. Both his parents died while he was still a child, one in 1702 and the other in 1707. The boy was raised by his uncle Justus Quantz, who played in the town band of Merseburg, and by the organist Johann Friedrich Kiesewetter. After the uncle's death too, he went on learning from the man who took over the uncle's post, Johann Fleischhack.
Quantz says in his autobiography that from the age of nine he learned the blacksmith's trade. On his deathbed his father wished the son to follow in his footsteps, yet once the father was gone the boy was able to pick a career for himself. That is how he came to music.
In 1714 Quantz began his training in the town band of Pirna, where he learned the flute, the oboe, the trumpet and several other instruments. In 1716 he won a post as oboist and flautist in the orchestra of the Dresden town chapel. He was taught composition by Jan Zelenka and Johann Fux, and the flute by Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin.
In 1718 he moved to the court orchestra of Augustus II as an oboist and often travelled to Poland with it. It became clear that he could not advance as an oboist, so he decided to take up the flute. His close friend became Johann Georg Pisendel, the concertmaster of the orchestra.
From 1724 Quantz travelled in Italy. In Rome he studied counterpoint with Francesco Gasparini, met Alessandro Scarlatti and made friends with the castrato Farinelli. In Venice he heard the music of Vivaldi, his musical idol.
After that he went to Paris and then to London. In London, Handel urged him to stay.
In 1728 Quantz became a flautist in the Saxon court chapel at Dresden and got to know Prince Frederick, who would later be King of Prussia. The prince started taking flute lessons from him, but his father the king banned them immediately. Once, when the father set out to check on his wilful son, Quantz was forced to conceal himself in a cupboard.
In 1737 Quantz married Anna Rosina Schindler. The marriage was unhappy, and in Berlin it was rumoured that his wife tyrannised him. Until 1741 he stayed at the Saxon court in Dresden.
When Frederick became King of Prussia, he offered Quantz such favourable terms as court composer and musician that in 1741 Quantz moved to his court and remained there all his life. Each day he gave the king flute lessons, and he composed. He built instruments from his own sketches too, for which the king paid well. Frederick owned eleven flutes made by Quantz.
Quantz's colleague at the court was the composer Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who served there as court harpsichordist. In 1747 his father, Johann Sebastian Bach, visited the court, and Quantz had a chance to meet him too. On a trip to Paris Quantz had met the flautist and composer Jacques-Christophe Naudot, with whom he was later on friendly terms.
Quantz lived in the Berlin district of Mitte and played at Frederick's court until his death. He died on 12 July 1773 in Potsdam. He wrote his own autobiography, and Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg published it.
The first biography of Quantz came out in 1755 in Marpurg's journal; an Italian one followed in 1762. In 1877 his grandnephew Albert Quantz brought out a book-length life of him.
Quantz wrote chiefly for the flute. His output includes more than 200 sonatas, around 300 concertos (a few of them for two flutes), about 45 trio sonatas, six quartets, many flute duets and trios, and caprices and fantasias for unaccompanied flute. Little of this was published in his lifetime. Bach, Haydn and Mozart knew and appreciated his music.
Quantz is the author of the treatise On Playing the Flute, published in Berlin in 1752. It goes beyond the flute school and is in essence a fundamental guide to performing Baroque music. For players today it is a valuable source on technique and performance practice of the 18th century.
Quantz also made changes to the construction of the flute. He added rings that lengthened or shortened the instrument so that it could be tuned in different ways, since the tuning-fork A of the time varied greatly even between neighbouring towns. He also added an E-flat key alongside the usual D-sharp to help with intonation.
The site has three pieces by Quantz: the Minuetto (upper-beginner level), the Capricio and the Allegro (both intermediate). The Minuetto is a good place to start.