COMPOSER AND LIBRETTIST
NIKOLAUS MATTHES
Born in 1981 in Berlin, raised in Lüneburg and Basel. After his secondary school exams, Nikolaus Matthes dedicated himself initially to general pedagogy, and especially to theatre work with young people. From 2001 to 2016, he initiated numerous stagings of classical and modern works within this milieu.
From 2004 to 2007 Nikolaus Matthes studied film-making in London (Film Making Diploma), and from 2013 to 2018 composition with Michel Roth and music theory with Johannes Menke at the Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel (MA of Arts).
Nikolaus Matthes was assistant to the recording producer Stefan Ritzenthaler at Gallus Media Inc. from 2016 to 2019.
A deep commitment to the practical aspects of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and a contemporary compositional inquiry into the music of Bach’s time have for years stood at the middle of his work.
CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH HENRICI, known as PICANDER
Christian Friedrich Henrici, born on January 14, 1700 in Stolpen near Dresden, studied law in Wittenberg and Leipzig beginning in 1719. From 1721 on he was active as poet in Leipzig and likely met Johann Sebastian Bach sometime in the following years. In 1727 he presented the Prince of Saxony and Polish king Augustus the Strong with a poem to petition for a position as civil servant, and was appointed actuary in the main post office in Leipzig, where he was soon thereafter promoted to secretary. In 1734 he became the head commissioner of the post office, and later advanced to the position of the tax collector for the wine trade in Leipzig. He lived there until his death in 1764; his last dwelling was a house near Pleissenburg which no longer exists.
As poet, Christian Friedrich Henrici called himself “Picander” – allegedly because during a hunt in 1722 he aimed at a magpie (lat. pica), but instead hit a farmer. He wrote texts for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion as well as for various of the composer’s cantatas. The two had become friends and worked together repeatedly until Bach’s death.