FASCH, JOHANN FRIEDRICH  

An important contemporary of J. S. Bach, Fasch studied at Leipzig University. He failed to obtain the position of Cantor at the choir school of St Thomas, for which his friend Telemann was at first preferred and to which Bach was finally appointed, and served from 1722 as Kapellmeister at Zerbst. He enjoyed a considerable reputation in his own time and his music was both admired and transcribed by Bach, whose posthumous fame overshadowed him.

Church Music

Fasch's church music includes twelve cycles of church cantatas, psalm-settings and Masses.

Instrumental Music

Fasch was equally prolific as a composer of instrumental music. He wrote some ninety overture-suites, 68 concertos, nineteen symphonies and eighteen trio sonatas. Much of his work shows a development of instrumental style from the three-movement concerto of Vivaldi to the early classical.