A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Portmann, Johann Gottlieb

PORTMANN, Johann Gottlieb, Cantor, and writer on the theory of music, born Dec. 4, 1739, at Ober-Lichtenau near Königsbrück in Saxony. He received his musical education at the Kreuzschule in Dresden, and then went to Darmstadt, where he became first court-singer, and in 1768 Cantor, and Collaborator of the Pädagogium. He died at Darmstadt, Sept. 28, 1798. His theoretical works, which were not unknown in England, are full of thought, and as a rule clear and helpful to the student of harmony and counterpoint. They include 'Kurzer musikalischer Unterricht für Anfänger,' etc. with 28 plates of examples engraved by himself (Darmstadt, published by himself, 1785; 2nd ed., enlarged by Wagner; Heyer, Darmstadt, 1799); 'Leichtes Lehrbuch der Harmonie, Composition, und Generalbass,' etc., with numerous examples (Darmstadt, 1789; 2nd ed., Heyer, 1799); and 'Die neuesten und wichtigsten Entdeckungen in der Harmonie, Melodie, und Contrapunkt' (Darmstadt, 1798). He also published the following compositions—'Neues Hessen-Darmstädtisches Choralbuch' (Darmstadt 1786); 'Musik auf das Pfingstfest,' in score (about 1793); and a Magnificat (1790). As a contributor to the 'Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek,' he was much dreaded for the severity of his criticisms. Among his pupils were G. A. Schneider—born in Darmstadt 1770, became Kapellmeister to the King of Prussia, and bandmaster of the Guards, and died in Berlin, Jan. 19, 1839—and Carl Wagner, a horn-player, Hofmusikus, and afterwards Capellmeister at Darmstadt, where he died in 1822.

[ C. F. P. ]