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George Berg (1730–1775), was a London organist and harpsichord teacher who during a quite brief period (1755–70) was a highly productive composer, whose works ranged from operas in Italian to short glees and catches. At the heart of his oeuvre are his seven collections of keyboard music. His sonatinas for harpsichord were a by-product of his teaching, appearing in three volumes between 1759 and 1762. Technically fairly simple, these are lively, inventive and finely polished works showing an indebtedness towards Domenico Scarlatti.
His secular vocal music contains a large quantity of catches, canons and glees, some of which were composed during his membership of the Madrigal Society (from 1756 until 1760), but the bulk of which were written for the amateurs of the Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Catch Club in London, active from the early 1760s onwards, which elected him to honorary membership in 1764 and on three occasions awarded him a prize at its annual competition for new compositions in each of the three mentioned categories.
More information on George Berg's life and music can be found in Michael Talbot's article 'George Berg: An Original Musical and Scientific Spirit in Georgian London', published on pages 3–27 of the Spring 2019 issue of The Musical Times (vol. 160, no.1946).
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