Kollmann, August Friedrich Christoph

1756-1824

Composer and organist, who spent his life in England, although he was of foreign origin. His name, August Friedrich Christoph, is sometimes confused with that of his brother, and is given in some authorities as August Friedrich Karl. He was born at Engelbostel, near Hanover, where his father taught school and played the organ. He first studied music with the village minister, then with J. C. Bottner and at the Hanover Normal School. He played in a private chapel, went to London as a tutor, and finally became chapelmaster at the German Chapel, St. James' Palace. He wrote The Shipwreck, a symphony; twelve fugues; melody on the One Hundredth Psalm; a rondo on the Chord of Diminished Seventh. He also wrote a number of critical and didactic works, as, An Introduction to the Art of Preludizing and Extemporizing; an Essay on Musical Harmony; an Essay on Practical Musical Composition; a Guide to Thorough-Bass; and a New Theory of Musical Harmony. He began a Quarterly Musical Register, which was unsuccessful, and edited some of Bach's works.