Biography
Carl Heinrich Graun was born in 1704 in Wahrenbrück and sang as a boy in the Dresden Kreuzchor, where he also received instruction in composition. In 1725 he joined the Brunswick court as a tenor and soon as vice-Kapellmeister, writing his first operas there. In 1735 the Prussian crown prince Frederick called him to Rheinsberg, and after Frederick's accession to the throne in 1740 Graun was appointed Kapellmeister and put in charge of building and directing the new Berlin court opera, which he opened in 1742 with his own opera Cesare e Cleopatra. Until his death in 1759 he composed around 30 Italian operas for Berlin as well as church music, including the Passion cantata Der Tod Jesu, which remained widely performed well into the 19th century.
On Stagelog
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