Dietrich Steffkins
Dietrich Steffkins
Person from Germany
Genres: 17th century, german
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About Dietrich Steffkins
Dietrich Steffkins (born after 1600; died probably in December 1673 in Cologne), also Dietrich Stoeffken, was a German viol player and composer. There are no sources about his early years. He was forced to seek employment at various European courts by the effects of the Thirty Years' War , which led to the downsizing or closure of many court chapels. In 1622 he played under the direction of William Brade in a gamba consort at the Danish royal court of Christian IV. He probably moved with Brade to the ducal court of Frederick III. from Schleswig-Holstein Gottorf . From 1628 he was in the service of Charles I ; In 1636 he succeeded Maurice Webster , who had died shortly before, as musician in ordinaryappointed the King's Private Musick . Steffkins left England before the Civil War broke out . In 1642 he was a viol player at the Brandenburg court of the Great Elector . In the years that followed, he held positions with various employers in The Hague (1647/48), Hamburg (1652–1654), Regensburg (1654) and Rome (1659) until he decided to return to England. Under the anglicized name of Theodore Steffkins , he took office in the Private Musick , which was now under the reign of Charles II.got up again. He probably also worked as a gamba teacher. In 1673 he accompanied the English ambassador on a diplomatic mission to Cologne, where he died in December. Steffkins was one of the most respected gamba soloists of his time. The high technical level of his playing is reflected in his virtuoso compositions. As a mark of respect, he was called Old Steffkins by his contemporaries . Among his personal friends and admirers, whom he met at the English royal court, were Christiaan Huygens and John Jenkins . With the latter he exchanged ideas about composition and music theory.
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