Johann Georg Röllig

Johann Georg Röllig, or Johann George Roellig (as his autograph signature indicates)(1710–1790), brother of composer Johann Christian Roellig (b.1716), was a German composer, organist and Kapellmeister at the Court of Anhalt-Zerbst.[1] From the age of 17, Roellig was a student at the Dresden Kreuzschule.[2] In 1736, he matriculated at the University of Leipzig to study theology.[3] In 1737, Prince Johann August of Anhalt-Zerbst heard Roellig perform and appointed him Court Organist and Court Musician.[4] On the death of court Kapellmeister, Johann Friedrich Fasch, in 1758, Roellig (along with the court Konzertmeister, Carl Hoeckh) assumed some of his duties, particularly in continuing to supply the court with cantatas.[5] Following Hoeckh's death in 1773, Röllig was finally appointed Kapellmeister in 1774.[6]

Works

Musicologists have attributed to Röllig the St. Mark's Passion „Gehet heraus und schauet an, ihr Tochter Zion", previously attributed to C. P. E. Bach by G. Quarg (as H. 863).[7][8] His other notable output includes special cantatas and serenatas for the birthdays of rulers of Anhalt-Zerbst, including Catherine the Great, daughter of Prince Christian August. In 2019, the local newspaper, the Volksstimme reported that a volume had been bought for the Francisceum Library in Zerbst which contained the texts of several unknown works by Fasch and Roellig. Significant surviving works include Roellig's cantata to mark the death of Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden in 1771 ("Sei getreu bis in den Tod") and a cantata ("Euer Herz soll sich freuen") and Missa brevis to mark the coronation of his successor Gustav III. The latter was published in an edition by Nigel Springthorpe by Prima la musica in 2020.

References
  1. See Nigel Springthorpe The lives and Works of Johann George Roellig and Johann Christian Roellig - with Thematic Catalogue, PhD (London, 2020) for the most extensive biographical information on the composer. George J Buelow The Late Baroque Era: Vol 4. From The 1680s To 1740 1349113034- 2016 Page 235 "Other musicians who worked at Zerbst were the violinist and horn player Carl Höckh (1707–72) and the organist Johann Georg Roellig (1710–90), who was later Kapellmeister; for two years Roellig taught the harpsichord to Princess Sophie"
  2. Die Matrikel der Kreuzschule Gymnasium zum Heiligen Kreuz in Dresden, Zweiter Teil 1713-1801/2.
  3. Die jängeren Matrikel der Universität Leipzig (1559-1809), vol. 3 (1909)).
  4. Rölligs Kantate für St. Jakobs-Tag", in Zerbster Jahrbuch 4 (1908).
  5. Nigel Springthorpe "Roellig in charge": A reassessment of the cantata repertoire performed in the Zerbst Schlosskirche between 1749 and 1765, in "Fasch und die Konfessionen", Fasch-Studien 14, ortus 2017, 225-252. ISBN 978-3-937788-58-6.
  6. Springthorpe, op. cit.
  7. Nigel Springthorpe established Roellig's authorship in Passion Composition and composers of Passion Music at the Court of Anhalt Zerbst, PhD (Surrey, 1997) and The Zerbst Passion Tradition in Johann Friedrich Fasch und sein Wirken fuer Zerbst, ed. Internationale Fasch-gesellschaft, Anhaltische Verlagsgesellschaft, (Dessau 1997). The work is catalogued in Johann George Röllig in New Grove 2000 and Johann George Roellig in Grove-Online 2007 (both articles by Springthorpe) and in Springthorpe The lives and Works of Johann George Roellig and Johann Christian Roellig - with Thematic Catalogue, PhD (London, 2020). Other commentators include: Doris Powers C.P.E. Bach: A Guide to Research 2013 1136799478 p.217 "Georg Friedrich Handel: Ein Lebensinhalt-Gedenkschrift fiir Bernd Baselt (1934-1993), ed. Klaus Hortschansky and Konstanze Musketa, 455-64. Halle: HandelHaus, 1995; Kassel: Barenreiter, 1995. 551 p. ISBN 3-910019-09-9, who argues that the most likely composer of the St. Mark's Passion (H. 863), attributed to C. P. E. Bach by G. Quarg, is not Bach but J. G. Roellig. (Note: Composition is listed in Helm, Thematic Catalogue as a spurious composition.)" P.296 "H.863 Passion to St. Mark (Attributed more likely to J. G. Rollig) 692-93."
  8. Herbert Lölkes -Ramlers "Der Tod Jesu" in den Vertonungen von Graun und ... 1999 Page 57 "Als Autor der durch einen Zerbster Textdruck bereits für 1750 belegten Passion H 863 (Eingangsarie: „Gehet heraus und schauet an, ihr Tochter Zion") kommt Johann Georg Rolling in Betracht. Compare Hans-Joachim Schulze.
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