Jakob Adlung
1699 — 1762
Jakob Adlung, or Adelung, was a German organist, teacher, instrument maker, music historian, composer and music theorist.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Jakob Adlung.
From the period sources
Jakob Adlung, born near Erfurt in 1699, became a significant figure in German musical scholarship and practice, despite his taste for music developing relatively late in life. He pursued studies in philology and theology at Erfurt and Jena, while simultaneously dedicating himself to music, learning clavier, organ, and theory from the organist Christian Reichardt, who, though not of the “first rank,” was “truly devoted to his art,” as Grove’s Dictionary (1904) records. Adlung’s musical proficiency led to his appointment as organist of the Evangelical Church in Erfurt in 1727, where he was recognized for his “masterly playing,” and later, in 1741, he became a professor at the Rathsgymnasium there (A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1879).
Adlung’s life was not without hardship; in 1736, his house and all his possessions were destroyed by fire, yet the “undaunted man was not discouraged,” continuing to teach music and language, write extensively, and even construct instruments with his own hands, according to Grove’s Dictionary (1904). He maintained a private teaching practice, with Guillaume-Auguste-Traugott Roth among his pupils (Biographie universelle des musiciens, 1837). Adlung’s lasting contributions to musical literature include his “Anleitung zur musikalischen Gelahrtheit” (Erfurt, 1758), which saw a second edition revised by J. A. Hiller after Adlung’s death, and his two-volume “Musica mechanica organoedi” (Berlin, 1768), a treatise on the organ and clavicymbalum, which included an autobiography and valuable additions by J. F. Agricola and J. L. Albrecht. His “Musikalisches Siebengestirn” (Berlin, 1768) was also published posthumously by Albrecht (A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 1900). Notably, Johann Friedrich Agricola, a pupil of J. S. Bach, made “valuable additions” to Adlung’s “Musica mechanica organoedi,” and the work is cited in discussions of keyboard instruments, including the clavichord’s pedals and the “lute-harpsichord” invented by J. S. Bach (A History of Pianoforte-Playing and Pianoforte-Literature, 1897; Grove’s Dictionary, 1906). Adlung also enjoyed a personal connection with J. S. Bach, who visited him in Erfurt after 1727, making “great friends” and playing the clavier for him, as recorded in Spitta’s “Johann Sebastian Bach” (1884).