DAUBE'S LIFE AND SURROUNDINGS

In 1773 Johann Friedrich Daube introduced to the musical society of Vienna a unique and timely work, Der Musikalische Dilettant: eine Abhandlung der Komposition. This treatise on galant chamber music composition constitutes the keystone of Daube's theoretical writing. Yet its significance as an enlightening reflection of galant tastes and techniques has not been widely recognized, due perhaps to the attention given his General-Baβ in drey Accorden (1756), to confusion surrounding its identity as the second in a projected series of four Dilettant publications, and to the relative obscurity of its author in the history of music theory.

Daube's awareness of the latest musical trends and his uniquely practical approach to composition in the current style stem from his experience as a performer on lute and flute in some of the foremost musical centers in the German-speaking lands – Berlin, Stuttgart-Ludwigsburg, Augsburg, and Vienna – where he worked among those who were influential in shaping musical styles and tastes.

The earliest document in which “ein Lautenist Taube” is mentioned, his official appointment in 1744 as chamber lutenist to Duke Karl Eugen von Württemburg (1728–93), establishes his former residence as Berlin, where Karl Eugen had been a pupil of C. P. E. Bach at the court of Frederick the Great.