Johann Philipp Kirnberger

Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721–1783) – German theorist and composer. His life up to 1754 is known solely thanks to a biographical sketch by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, according to whom Kirnberger was a pupil of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1739 and worked as a court musician to several noble families in Poland from 1741–1751. In 1754, he joined the chapel of Prince Henry of Prussia, and four years later he became a subject of the Prussian queen Anna Amalia. Kirnberger was one of the most influential theorists of his times, and until his death he remained an ardent admirer of the compositions, performance and teaching methods of J. S. Bach.