Klengel, August Alexander

1783-1852

German composer and pianist, called Kanon-Klengel on account of his very careful and precise style. Born and died at Dresden, where his father was well known as a painter of landscapes and portraits. Studied with Milchmeyer and dementi, with whom he afterwards traveled in Russia and Germany. After leaving Russia in 1811 he studied two years at Paris, and then went to Italy. In 1814 he returned to Dresden and played at the court, visiting England for a year, resuming his position at the Dresden court, which he held the rest of his life. He is said to have played much like dementi, but his canons and fugues resemble the works of Bach. Among his best known compositions are The Forerunners; forty-eight canons and forty-eight fugues, similar to Bach's Well-tempered Clavichord, and published by Hauptmann; and a rondo, A Walk by the Sea Interrupted by a Storm.