Christlieb Siegmund Binder was baptised on 29 July 1723 at the Dreikönigskirche in Dresden-Neustadt. Nothing is known about Binder’s youth. However, the fact that Augustus III (1696–1763) arranged in 1742 for him to learn to play the pantaleon implies that he already possessed a discernible musical talent. The instrument – a significantly enlarged and improved version of the hammered dulcimer – was named after and taught by Pantaleon Hebenstreit (1668–1750), who had caused a sensation as a virtuoso playing it at various royal courts. In 1714, he secured a post as ‘Cammer-Musicus’ at the Dresden court, where he also took over the direction of Protestant court church music in 1729. As those in charge did not wish to do without (solo) performances on this instrument in future, the court organist Johann Christoph Richter (1700–1785) and the young Christlieb Siegmund Binder were given appropriate tuition. Binder was first mentioned as a Pantaleon player in 1749 in the Saxon ‘Hof- und Staats-Calender’. He also distinguished himself as a harpsichordist and composer of music for keyboard instruments.
During the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), Binder had turned his attention increasingly to playing the harpsichord. After the war ended, he had ‘Six Trios for Harpsichord with Flute or Violin’ printed in Leipzig and dedicated them to Prince Friedrich August, who was twelve years old at the time. When the second court organist, Constantin Joseph Weber, died on 10 November 1764 following a prolonged illness, Binder was appointed to this post. Later, when Peter August (1726–1787), the first court organist as well as the Elector’s teacher and musical partner, died, Binder succeeded him in that role, but he himself died as early as 1 January 1789.
Only instrumental compositions by Christlieb Siegmund Binder have survived or can be traced. Three main areas of his output emerge: music for solo keyboard instruments, harpsichord concertos and chamber music with obbligato harpsichord. Apart from the few printed collections, Binder’s compositions were disseminated only sporadically throughout Central Europe. Some are listed in the catalogues of the Leipzig publisher Breitkopf; others have survived in scattered manuscripts. Under circumstances that are not precisely documented, his estate found its way, via what later became the Royal Private Music Collection, to what is now the Saxon State Library – State and University Library Dresden. The surviving works reveal Christlieb Siegmund Binder to be an original composer at the forefront of his time.
From the foreword by Gerhard Poppe
