These days we’re all used to a whole ecosystem around creative works like music, academic underpinnings of them, like music theory, and considered commentary from people like critics. None of that is new; in the 17th and 18th centuries all those things existed in Europe. One difference was that in those days, not everybody had the opportunity to listen to, let alone learn to play music, and the majority of the population was illiterate.
No matter. On September 28, 1681, Johann Mattheson was born in Hamburg, Germany (it wasn’t Germany yet, though). He was born into a prosperous family and received a liberal education including lessons in keyboards, violin, and singing. His first area of success was singing; at 15 he made his solo debut with the Hamburg opera. He also conducted rehearsals and composed his own operas.
When he was 25 he changed careers rather dramatically and became a professional diplomat. He spoke English fluently and went on diplomatic missions as a representative of the English ambassador — and even married the ambassador’s daughter. He stayed active in music, though, and was a close friend of George Frideric Handel.
In addition to writing operas (most of which have survived and are in the University Library in Hamburg), he published books on music theory. And based on his theories (which, to be honest, did not captivate other academics), he also wrote extensively (as a critic) on performances and the theatrics of local operas.
So there you have it; a whole media ecosystem, all in one fellow. Oh, and in his spare time he was also a lexicographer, compiling at least one dictionary, and a translator (usually from German into English).
