Friedrich Gottlieb Wild (Organ, Bach's Pupil)

Born: August 14, 1700¹ or c1706?³ - Bernsbach, Erzgebirge, Saxony, Germany
Died: Before August 1762¹ or c1762³ - St Peterburg, Russia

Friedrich Gottlieb Wild was a German organist. He studied law at the University of Leipzig from 1723 (enrollment on April 20, 1723) to 1727. He studied privately with J.S. Bach in Leipzig between 1726 and 1735. On May 18, 1727, J.S. Bach wrote a testimonial in support of Wild's application for the post of Kantor at the Jacobikirche in Chemnitz, in which he indicated Wild's excellent abilities in playing the flute, keyboard, continuo with which he assisted J.S. Bach in his cantatas, etc. The application was unsuccessful, and in 1735 Wild was appointed organist of Petrikirche in St Peterburg, Russia.

J.S. Bach certified Friedrich Gottlieb Wild with a certificate in 1727 that he had been involved in church music as a flautist and harpsichordist since 1723, and that "I had been especially informed about the keyboard, general bass and the fundamental rules of composition that flow from it". After his unsuccessful application for the Kantor post in Chemnitz in 1727, to which this certificate was attached, Wild could have stayed with J.S. Bach in Leipzig for a long time. There is currently no reliable information on its origin and work in Russia.

References: Koska: A-14

Source:
1. Oxford Composer Companions J.S. Bach (Editor: Malcolm Boyd, OUP, 1999)
2. fine-print footnotes in the Bach-Dokumente
3. Bernd Koska: Bachs Privatschüler in Bach-Jahrbuch 2019, English translation by Aryeh Oron (May 2020)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (June 2014, May 2020); Thomas Braatz (January 2011)

Links to other Sites

Wild, Friedrich Gotlieb (Bach Digital)

Bibliography

Sources: Dok I, Nr. 57; Dok III, Nr. 950, N I (57); Dok V, N I (57); C. Lemmerich, Geschichte der evangelisch-lutherischen Gemeinde St. Petri in St. Petersburg, Bd. I, St. Petersburg 1862, S. 90; G. Schünemann, Neue „Attestate“ Seb. Bachs, in: Festschrift zum 90. Geburtstage […] Rochus Freiherrn von Liliencron, Leipzig 1910, S. 290–296, speziell S. 294f.; Löffler 1929/31, Nr. 15; Löffler 1953, Nr. 24

Bach's Pupils: List of Bach's Pupils | Actual and Potential Non-Thomaner Singers and Players who participated in Bach’s Figural Music in Leipzig | Alumni of the Thomasschule in Leipzig during Bach's Tenure | List of Bach's Private Pupils | List of Bach's Copyists
Thomanerchor Leipzig: Short History | Members: 1729 | 1730 | 1731 | 1740-1741 | 1744-1745 | Modern Times
Bach’s Pupils Discussions: Part 1 | Part 2
Articles: Organizional Structure of the Thomasschule in Leipzig | The Rules Established for the Thomasschule by a Noble and Very Wise Leipzig City Council - Printed by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf Leipzig, 1733 | Homage Works for Thomas School Rectors