General Biography on J. A. Reincken

Program Note:

Johann Adam Reincken (1643-1722) was certainly one of the most influential composers on young J. S. Bach. Reincken received primary music education in his native Deventer (the Netherlands), but at age ten he left for Hamburg to study under Heinrich Scheidemann, organist of St. Katharine’s Church. He would soon earn that post himself, which he kept until the end of his life, and even marry Scheidemann’s daughter (as bound by his contract). Financially secure and acclaimed across Europe, Reincken was a close friend of Buxtehude and may have met Bach when the latter visited Hamburg in 1722. The extent of Reincken’s influence is clear: Bach made several arrangements of the Hamburg master’s works, including the earliest known example of Bach’s own handwriting from 1700.

(c) Jason Stell