Rebecca Leistikow

Who the eff is Christoph Graupner?  Just another baby boomer really….He has a wife and family to provide for, so he lands a decently salaried job with some degree of security, works hard for 40 or 50 years (even lends a kind word to get less established fellows rolling in their careers; in this case JS Bach), finds he’s getting pushed to the side by a younger work force (he goes blind), and so he retires (dies).

1683 – 1760

Graupner was a German harpsichordist and composer, creating loads and loads of music (cantatas, partitas, even operas….), and apparently was more responsible in his composing duties than his esteemed contemporary Bach.  Graupner was relatively forgotten about after his death, but recently people are dusting him off a bit and trying him on.  I’m honored to sing a movement from one of his cantatas on May 4th (Info here!).