Johann Kuhnau

Johann Kuhnau was a German polymath, known primarily as a composer today. He was also active as a novelist, translator, lawyer, and music theorist, and was able to combine these activities with his duties in his official post as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, which he occupied for 21 years. Much of his music, including operas, masses, and other large-scale vocal works, is lost. His reputation today rests on his Biblical Sonatas, a set of programmatic keyboard sonatas published in 1700, in which each sonata depicted in detail a particular story from the Bible. After his death, Kuhnau was succeeded as Thomaskantor by Johann Sebastian Bach.

6 April 1660

Born on the same birth day (6 April): Andrei Veis • Anthony Fokker • April 6 • Christopher Franke • Cleo Odzer • Donald Wills Douglas Sr. • Gil Kane • Helen Berman • Hirotada Ototake • Ivan Dixon • Jean-Marc Boivin • Karl Staaf • Maurizio Damilano • Max Bemis • Mike Worboys • Mir Osman Ali Khan • Normand Corbeil • Phil Austin • Rafael Correa • William M. Branham

Born in the same month (April 1660): Hans Sloane