(b Dobitschen, 4 Jan 1720; d Berlin, 2 Dec 1774). German composer and writer. He was a pupil of J.S. Bach at Leipzig, then studied under Quantz at Berlin. After the success of his first intermezzo, Il filosofo convinto in amore (1750, Potsdam), he became a court composer to Frederick the Great and from 1759 was musical director at the Berlin Opera; he continued writing Italian operas until 1772 but lost royal favour. Among his other works, the keyboard music shows the influence of J.S. and C.P.E. Bach. With C.P.E. Bach he wrote an influential obituary of J.S. Bach (1754).
Agricola's wife, Benedetta Emilia (née Molteni, 1722-80), was a leading soprano at the Berlin Opera, 1743-74.
Johann Friedrich Agricola's joint careers as musician and writer about music placed him at the heart of north German musical life during the important generation after Johann Sebastian Bach; his studies with Bach and Quantz, and his other prominent musical contacts, also certainly fostered his stellar career. Though Agricola began his time at the University of Leipzig as a law student (1739), he had already studied music for some years and he quickly was accepted by J.S. Bach as a music student. Continuing the musical endeavors, Agricola moved to Berlin in 1741 to study with Quantz, and he never turned back. By 1751, he was firmly ensconced in Berlin's musical culture. His first opera, a thoroughly fashionable Italianate work, was premiered in 1750. On the merits of this work, he was appointed one of the court composers for Frederick the Great. He had already published his first two treatises on music (1749 and 1751); by 1754 his musicological pen was well-known enough that Agricola co-wrote the important obituary for J.S. Bach with Bach's son, Carl Philip Emmanuel. Agricola was also becoming prominent in Berlin vocal circles, marrying one of Frederick the Great's opera singers, performing a vocal role in the premiere of Graun's Der Tod Jesu, and taking on a variety of voice students. (Unfortunately, his marriage displeased his patron Frederick.)
Each element of Agricola's musical life continued almost until the day of his death. He published three further prominent theoretical treatises, including a seminal work on the subject of melody; he contributed articles and concert reviews to a central Berlin journal, as well as a biographical essay on Graun. He continued to compose works for both keyboard and voice, becoming a founding member of the First Berlin Lied School. In addition, upon the death of Graun in 1759, Agricola was named his successor as opera director to Frederick the Great. Eventually, he composed over a dozen operas, plus heavy revisions to many of them according to the whims of his patron. In 1772, two years before Agricola's death, Charles Burney visited his Berlin home, and called him "the best organ player in Berlin, and the best singing master in Germany." ~ Timothy Dickey, All Music Guide
Johann Friedrich Agricola (4 January 1720 – 2 December 1774) was a Germancomposer, organist, singer, pedagogue, and writer on music. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Flavio Anicio Olibrio.
He was soon generally recognized as one of the most skillful organists of his time. The success of his comic opera, Il Filosofo convinto in amore, performed at Potsdam in 1750, led to an appointment as court composer to Frederick the Great. In 1759, on the death of Karl Heinrich Graun, he was appointed conductor of the royal orchestra. He married the noted operatic soprano Benedetta Emilia Molteni, a marriage of which the king apparently disapproved. Agricola died in Berlin at 54.
During his lifetime, Agricola wrote a number of Italian operas, as well as lieder,chorale preludes, various other keyboard pieces and church music, especially oratorios and cantatas. His reputation chiefly rests, however, on his theoretical and critical writings on musical subjects. In 1754 he co-wrote with Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach an obituary for J.S. Bach. His 1757 Anleitung zur Singekunst (Introduction to the Art of Singing) is a translation of Pier Francesco Tosi's 1723 treatise Opinioni de' cantori antichi e moderni with Agricola's own extensive comments.
