Schicht, Johann Gottfried

Composer

b Reichenau (now Bogatynia), nr Zittau, Saxony (Poland) 1753, d Leipzig, Germany 1823. Brought up by an uncle, he was taught to play the keyboard by Johann Trier, studying the organ and piano but graduated in law at Leipzig Univ and practised law until his harpsichord playing led to his becoming director in 1785 of the Gewandhaus Concerts, then organist and cantor of various churches, and finally full-time music director at St Thomas’ Church and School (1810–23), posts once held by Bach. Composer of church and chamber music, editor/publisher of Bach’s motets, and translator of music textbooks. His Allgemeines Choralbuch (1819), for which he is best remembered, contains some 1200 chorales of which he contributed 298. His Italian wife Constanza sang in his concerts for many years. His ‘sober and dignified style…was a corrective to the vulgar tendencies in the tunes of other composers of the time’; Wesley Milgate, Songs of the People of God. No.86.