Johann Wolfgang Franck

Short Name:	Johann Wolfgang Franck
Full Name:	Franck, Johann Wolfgang, 1644-1710
Birth Year (est.):	1644
Death Year (est.):	1710

Born: June 1644 (baptised: June, 17 1644) - Unterschwaningen
Died: c1710 - ?

Johann Wolfgang Franck was a German composer, who served at the court of the Margrave of Ansbach from 1665 to 1679 (or from 1673 to 1678). He composed a considerable body of sacred music for the court chapel, and in 1677 was made court chaplain. In January 1679 he was forced to flee after murdering one of the musician of the chapel and wounding his wife in a fit of jealousy. Already known as an opera composer through e.g. Die drey Töchter des Cecrops (the first extant German opera in full score), he found asylum in Hamburg, becoming musical director of the T am Gänsemarkt. Kapellmeister at Hamburg Cathedral from 1682 to 1686. In Hamburg he produced 14 operas between 1679 and 1686. From 1690 to 1695 he was in London, in whose concert life he was an active participant. In conjunction with Robert King, he gave there concerts between 1690 and 1693, and in 1695 he wrote a song for Colley Cibber's Love's Last Shift.

Apart from his operas, Johann Wolfgang Franck wrote several books of sacred songs, also a number of songs for The Gentleman's Journal (1692-1694).

--www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/