Biography
Born: September 6, 1702 - Wenigen-Ehrich, near Sondershausen, Thuringia, Germany
Died: August 6, 1775 - Wenigen-Ehrich, near Sondershausen in Thuringia
Heinrich Nicolaus [Nikolaus, Nicholas] Gerber was a German organist and composer. He matriculated as a law student at Leipzig University on May 8, 1724, and towards the end of the same year became a pupil of J.S. Bach. In 1731 he was appointed court organist to the Prince of Schwarzburg at Sondershausen, a post in which, upon his death, he was succeeded by his son, the music lexicographer Ernst Ludwig Gerber (1746-1819). E.L. Gerber's dictionary of musicians (Leipzig, 1790-1792; revised edition, 1812-1814) contains a vivid account of his father's tuition under J.S. Bach.
Numerous keyboard works by J.S. Bach survive in copies made by Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber during his Leipzig years (1724-1727), including the Inventions and Sinfonias (BWV 772-801), the French Suites (BWV 812-817), English Suites Nos. 1, 3, 5, and 6 (BWV 816, 818, 810, 811), the first two Preludes and Fugues from The Well-tempered Clavier Part 1 (BWV 846-847), and some miscellaneous works (BWV 818, BWV 819, BWV 914, and BWV 996). RDPJ
