Biography
Johann Peter Kellner [Keller, Kelner] was a German organist and composer, father of Johann Christoph Kellner (1736-1803). His parents wished him to become a lamp-black merchant like his father, Peter Kellner, but he was determined to study music. He probably received his first training at the village school in Gräfenroda, where he sang under the Kantor Johann Peter Nagel; his first keyboard teacher was Nagel's son Johann Heinrich. around 1718-1720 he was a pupil of the now schoolmaster Heinrich Nagel in Dietendorf. He next studied for a year in Zella (presumably 1720-1721) with the organist Johann Schmidt (C-3) and then for a year in Suhl (presumably 1721-1722) with the organist Hieronymous Florentius Quehl, who gave him his first composition lessons. Kellner next returned to Gräfenroda and served for three years as a tutor with the Pastor Jeremias Schneider (1723-1725). On October 21, 1725 he successfully auditioned for the post of Kantor in neighbouring Frankenhain, where he remained for over two years. In December 1727 he was back in Gräfenroda, first as assistant Kantor under J.P. Nagel and later, after Nagel's death in 1732, as Kantor. He remained in this post until his death.
Johann Peter Kellner was famous throughout Thuringia as an organist and teacher. According to his autobiography, published in F.W. Marpurg's Historische-kritische Beyträge zur Aufnahme der Musik (Berlin, 1754-1778/R, i, 439-45) he performed for the dukes of Coburg and Weimar and the Prince of Sondershausen. Among his many pupils were Johann Philipp Kirnberger, J.E. Rembt and Johannes Ringk. Kellner also played a critical role in the dissemination of the music of J.S. Bach, evinced by the many manuscript copies of J.S. Bach's compositions - primarily keyboard and organ works - that stem from his circle. These manuscripts, many of which are in Kellner's hand, often represent the earliest or only source of a work, and they shed light on the chronology, compositional history and authenticity of the music. Kellner appears also to have transcribed for keyboard certain chamber works by J.S. Bach, such as the sonatas BWV 1027 and BWV 1039. Whether he was a pupil of J.S. Bach is unclear, but the two knew one another personally. Another of Kellner's acquaintances was George Frideric Handel.
On the whole, Johann Peter Kellner's keyboard music typifies the galant idiom of the post-J.S. Bach generation, despite the obvious influence of J.S. Bach's Das wohltemperierte Clavier on certain movements of the Certamen musicum. Although his organ works incline more toward late Baroque style, the setting of Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan achieves a thoroughly Rococo texture. The D minor organ fugue (BWV Anh.180) is a double fugue featuring separate expositions for the two subjects. Rather pedestrian by comparison is the C minor organ fugue, which is merely a transposition of a movement from the Certamen musicum and was published in 1947 as a work by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (ed. E. Power Biggs). The Prelude and Fugue in D minor is noteworthy for its brilliant pedal solo, which reflects Kellner's virtuosity as an organist. His ornamental setting of Herzlich tut mich verlangen (BWV Anh. 47) is still regularly played.
Johann Peter Kellner mentioned in his autobiography published by Marpurg in 1755 his acquaintance with J.S. Bach, who was preceded by knowledge of his works. The remark made by Kellner's son Johann Christoph Kellner (1803) that his father was "ein guter Freund von S. Bach" (a good friend of S. Bach) seems somewhat exaggerated. The perhaps only one-time encounter with J.S. Bach could have taken place in Leipzig in 1729, in connection with a journey by J.P. Kellner to Halle (Saale), where he met George Frideric Handel. However, actual training with J.S. Bach, as suggested by Spitta (1880) and more recently by Peter Harder (2012), cannot be proven.
