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Andreas Kneller

German organist and composer (1649-1724)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ175090
Source-derived summary

Andreas Kneller (variants: Kniller, Knöller, Knüller) (23 April 1649 – 24 August 1724) was a German composer and organist of the North German school.

Life

Born in Lübeck, he was the younger brother of portrait painter Sir Godfrey Kneller. Nothing certain is known about his musical education, though he may have learnt from Franz Tunder (1614–1667), organist of St. Mary's Church, Lübeck, or his own uncle Matthias Weckmann (ca. 1616–1674), organist of St. Jacob's Church, Hamburg. In 1667, he became organist of the Marktkirche in Hanover, succeeding Melchior Schildt (1592–1667). In 1685, he moved to Hamburg, where he became organist of the Petrikirche. It was there that he made the acquaintance of Johann Adam Reincken; he went on to marry his daughter Margaretha Maria in 1686. Kneller's son-in-law Johann Jacob Hencke became his assistant in 1717, and succeeded in him in 1723.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Andreas Kneller” is german organist and composer (1649-1724). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Andreas, Kneller and German, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1649, 1724, 1614, 1667—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1649-04-23. For this dossier, Andreas, Kneller and German is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “german organist and composer (1649-1724)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q175090. VIAF identifies the subject as 37108727. The Library of Congress control number is n82101509. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1649, 1724, 1614 and 1667.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Andreas Kneller”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Andreas Kneller primary sources, Andreas Kneller archive and Andreas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Andreas Kneller”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Andreas Kneller” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.