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The recent edition of Krebs’ "Complete Organ Works" by Gerhard Weinberger (Beitkopt & Härtel, 1985) lists the following:

• 7 Preludes and Fugues
• 2 Toccatas and Fugues
• 3 Preludes
• 4 Preludes (small)
• 2 Fantasias and Fugues (one fugue is a fragment)
• 3 Fantasias
• 11 Fugues (including one on B-A-C-H)
• 17 Trios
• 35 Chorale Settings (with 5 Variants and 6 other Chorale Settings of dubious authenticity)
• 13 Chorales with 3 Settings of each--"Clavierübung" (Nuremberg, 1752- 1753)
• 5 Fantasias for wind instrument (trumpet, flute, oboe) and organ; 1 Variant
• 15 Chorale Settings for wind instrument and organ; 1 Fragment

The following derived from the work list by McLean, op. cit.:

Vocal

• 2 Cantatas (surviving)
• Missa in F
• Sanctus in D (2 settings)
• Magnificat in D
• Magnificat in F (German)
• Oratorio (for the funeral of Maria Gioseppa Regina di Pollonia, c. Nov. 1757)
• Bist du noch fern (aria for soprano and harpsichord)
• 2 Motets known, one of which is "lost"

Instrumental (2 or more instr.)

• 6 Trios--2 flutes or violins and basso continuo (Nuremberg, n.d.)
• 6 Sonata da Camera--flute or violin and harpsichord (Leipzig, 1762)
• 2 Sonatas--flute or violin and harpsichord (Nuremberg, n.d.)
• 3 Sonatas--flute, violin, basso continuo
• Sonata--violin and basso continuo
• VI Soli--violin, harpsichord
• 2 Sinfonias--2 violins, viola, basso continuo
• 2 Concertos for lute and strings
• Concerto for violin and strings
• Concerto for harpsichord, oboe, and strings
• Conerto in a for 2 harpsichords (no orch.)

Keyboard (harpsichord et al.)

• Erste Piece, ... 6 ... Praeambulis (Nuremberg, 1740)
• Andere Piece, ... Suite (Nuremberg, 1741)
• Dritte Piece, ... Ouverture (Nuremberg, 1741)
• Vierte Piece, ... Concerto (Nuremberg, 1743)
• Clavier-Ubung ... Suite ... zweyter Theil (Nuremberg, n.d.)
• Clavier-Ubung ... sechs Sonatinen ... IIIer Theil (Nuremberg, n.d.)
• Exercise sur le Clavessin ... VI Suites, Op. 4 (Nuremberg, n.d.)
• Sonata (in Musicalisches Magazin, in Sonaten ... Pt. 2) (Leipzig, 1765)

Most of the instrumental music, as well as some of the vocal, are available in modern editions. The writer has promoted this composer’s music for several years in north Texas and north Oklahoma (coincidentally, there is a town in Oklahoma called "Krebs").

Contribution by D.C. "il Buranello", North Texas, USA.

A Concerto in C a 5 and a Concerto in F a 5 are preserved in Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Preusisscher Kulturbesitz, Mus. Ms. 12019, 1-2; and Ms. 12020 (ca. 1770) (13-course lute)

RISM Volume VII also list a Concerto a 5 Mus. Ms. 12021 which contains a work of Krebs, but here only the tablature has survived (12-course lute)

Krebs was first and foremost an organist. He was a pupil of Bach at the Thomasschule in Leipzig from 1726 to 1735. Krebs also learned the lute and the violin in Leipzig. Some possible teachers in Leipzig at that time: Johann Caspar Gleditsch (d 1747), Maximillan Nagel (b 1712; d 1748), Maximilian Nagel - in Leipzig to 1744- , and Johann Christian Weyrauch (b 1694; d 1771). Bach regarded Krebs as one of his favourite pupils. From 1735-37 he studied at the University of Leipzig. Simultaneously he was occasionally assisting as a harpsichord player in Bach’s Collegium Musicum. Krebs was later organist in Zwickau (1737-1743), Zeitz (1744) and Altenburg (1755). His instrumental works reflects both the Bachian style and the galant style. It becomes apparent from his two concertos for lute and strings that he must have been a very qualified lutenist.

As stated by

Associate professor
Ph.D Per Kjetil Farstad
Agder College
The Faculty of Fine Arts
The Conservatory of Music
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4610 Kristiansand
Norway

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