A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Poelchau, Georg

POELCHAU, Georg, a distinguished amateur, born July 5, 1773, at Cremon in Livonia, left Russia during the reign of the Emperor Paul, and settled in Hamburg, where he formed an intimacy with Klopstock. On the death of Emmanuel Bach he bought the whole of his music, which contained many autographs of his father's. In 1813 he settled in Berlin, in 1814 became a member of the Singakademie, and assumed the charge of its library in 1833. At the request of the Crown Prince he searched the royal libraries for the compositions of Frederic the Great, and found 120 pieces. He died in Berlin, on Aug. 12, 1836, and his collection of music was bought by the Royal Library and the Singakademie. In 1855 the Singakademie sold their collection of the autographs of the Bach family to the Royal Library, which now has a larger number of these treasures than any other institution. There is a bust of Poelchau in one of the rooms.

[ F. G. ]