August Kühnel

August Kühnel ( born August 3, 1645 Delmenhorst, † 1700 ) was a German composer and viol player of the Baroque.

August Kühnel was born as the son of Mecklenburg chamber musician Samuel Kühnel. Already in 1661, at the age of sixteen, he was hired after training in Güstrow and studies in France as Violdigambist in the court orchestra of the Duke Moritz of Saxony- Zeitz in its castle Moritzburg - a position he held until 1681. After his death in 1682 Kühnel went to study in England. 1686 appointed him Countess Elisabeth Dorothea of Saxe- Coburg ( 1640-1709 ) as director of instrumental music at the court of Darmstadt, where he stayed until 1688. After employment in Weimar and Dresden he found from 1695 until shortly before his death in 1700 at the court of Landgrave Charles of Hesse -Kassel one last job.

Kühnel's main instrument was the viola da gamba, for which he also wrote a number of his own compositions. In 1698 he published his first collection of trio sonatas for viola da gamba under the title 14 Partite ad una sonata ò o due viole da gamba, con il basso continuo, printed in Kassel. This pressure was the first pressure German trio sonatas in Germany itself Kühnel's music is influenced by French influences.