August Kühnel, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetAugust Kühnel
German composer and violist
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Delmenhorst, Lower Saxony, Germany
About August Kühnel
- August Kühnel (3 August 1645 – ca.
- 1700) was a German composer and accomplished viola da gamba performer.
- He was born at Delmenhorst. Kühnel was the son of the Mecklenburg chamber musician Samuel Kühnel.
- Already in 1661 (at age 16), after receiving education in Güstrow and France, he was appointed Violdigambist in the court orchestra of Maurice, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz, a position he held until 1681.
- After the duke's death in 1682, Kühnel went to England to study.
- In 1686, he was appointed director of instrumental music at the Darmstadt court by Countess Elisabeth Dorothea von Sachsen-Coburg where he remained until 1688.
- After jobs in Weimar and Dresden, he found his last job in 1695 at the court of Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. Kühnel's main instrument was the viola da gamba for which he also wrote numerous compositions.
- In 1698, his first collection of trio sonatas for viola da gamba was published as 14 Sonate ò Partite ad una o due viole da gamba, con il basso continuo and printed in Kassel.
- This collection includes 6 sonatas for two gambas and 8 sonatas for one gamba.
- This was the first printing of German trio sonatas in Germany.
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