Eckard (Eckardt, Eckart), Johann Gottfried
Eckard (Eckardt, Eckart), Johann Gottfried
Eckard (Eckardt, Eckart), Johann Gottfried, German pianist and composer; b. Augsburg, Jan. 21, 1735; d. Paris, July 24, 1809. He was a copper engraver by profession and learned music in his spare time. In 1758 he was taken to Paris by the piano manufacturer J. A. Stein, and remained there. He acquired a great facility as a pianist, and gave successful concerts in Paris. In the preface to his album of 6 sonatas he states that his task was to compose music suitable for any keyboard instrument, but the indications of dynamics in the MS show that he had mainly the then-novel piano in view. Mozart admired Eckard’s works, and there are traits in Mozart’s keyboard music of the Paris period that may be traced to Eckard’s usages. A complete ed. of Eckard’s works for piano, ed. by E. Reeser and annotated by J. Ligtelijn, was publ. (Amsterdam, 1956).
Bibliography
E. Reeser, Ein Augsburger Musiker in Paris: J.G. E. (1735–1809) (Augsburg, 1984).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire