Adam Falckenhagen (April 26, 1697 – October 6, 1754) was a German lute player and composer of the Baroque period.
He was born in Groß-Dölzig near Leipzig in Saxony and spent his twilight years in Bayreuth. He composed melodious music that is still played today on the lute and guitar. Much of this music has been preserved in the Bavarian State Library in Munich.
He received his first musical training in Knauthain, the hometown of Johann Christian Weyrauch. Weyrauch was a student of Johann Sebastian Bach and transcribed Bach’s works for the lute. In 1713, Falckenhagen is mentioned as “gifted in literature and music,” and in 1715 as “musician and servant of the young Lord of Dieskau.” The Dieskaus were a family for whom J. S. Bach later wrote the Bauernkantate (Peasant Cantata) in Merseburg. Falckenhagen remained with the Dieskaus in Merseburg from around 1715 until he succeeded Johann Graf as lutenist at the Saxon court in 1719. From 1719 to 1720, Falckenhagen attended the University of Leipzig. It is believed that Falckenhagen also studied with Johann Graf, a student of Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1686–1750), and later with Weiss himself.
Like many of his contemporaries, Falckenhagen spent most of his life traveling from court to court (Weißenfels, 1720–1727; Jena and Weimar (1729–1732)), until he finally settled in Bayreuth, where he won the favor of Wilhelmine of Prussia, Margravine of Bayreuth, in 1734. Wilhelmine was a lutenist and sister of Frederick the Great; she invited him to become court lutenist in Bayreuth. Falckenhagen held this position until his death in 1754.
Falckenhagen’s music is representative of the last heyday of 18th-century lute music in Germany.
expressive style of composition.