Daniel Croner


Daniel Croner was a Transylvanian composer and organist of Saxon descent. He is best known for his four manuscript collections of organ music, his 'Tabulaturae', that include some of the earliest surviving organ compositions from this region.

Early life

Daniel Croner was born in Kronstadt to master tailor Daniel Croner and his wife Katharina at their home in Purzengasse. His musical talent was recognized early and encouraged.

Education

From 1671 to 1678 he attended Kronstadt's Honterus-Gymnasium. In 1675 he began to make copies of music for his own use. He then moved to Weissenburg to perfect his knowledge of Hungarian and moved to Breslau in 1680 to study at the Maria Magdalena High School.
Later that year Croner enrolled at the university in Leipzig. It seems he was unprepared for the cost of his studies in Leipzig and he transferred to Wittenberg to study theology. Here he got to know the local cantor Johann Ulich. When Corner left Wittenberg in 1683 Ulrich dedicated a printed “Musical Ode” to him.

Adult life

In January 1684 Daniel Croner returned to Kronstadt and by the spring of 1685 he'd copied almost a hundred preludes and fugues into his - by now - four manuscript volumes of music, of which around twenty items are his own works.
In 1687 Croner married and in 1691 he was appointed 'preacher' at Kronstadt's St. John's Church. In 1693 he was appointed 'preacher' at the city parish church, known as the Schwarze Kirche".
In 1701, the community of nearby Heldsdorf in Burzenland elected him as their pastor. From 1704 he resumed adding to his manuscript music collection. In 1709 he oversaw the purchase of new organ for the Heldsdorf church. From 1735 to 1738 he was the Area Dean of the Burzenland churches. He died on April 25, 1740, in Heldsdorf and was buried in the church there.

Works

Croner's magnum opus is his 'Tabulaturae', comprising four variously dated manuscript volumes of organ music - fugues, preludes, toccatas, fantasias and chorales - all written in tablature and preserved in the library of the Black Church.
  • Kronstadt, 1675
  • Breslau, 1681. Other notable characteristics include: - rhythmic variations of choral themes; - the increased use of keys rather than church modes; - and the frequent introduction of the pedal. Croner was a pioneer in the inclusion of instructions for fingering methods on keyboard instruments and the finger extension principle for the execution of preludes and capriccios.