In 1973, the West Berlin postal service, known as the Deutsche Bundespost Berlin, celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of the death of composer, flutist, and flute maker Johann Joachim Quantz with a postage stamp. The first composer stamps from Germany featured Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven in 1926. Then in 1935, the German Reich made stamps to celebrate the 250th birth anniversary of Bach and Handel, along with the 350th birth anniversary of Schütz. Ever since, Germany (including both West and East Germany) has often celebrated classical composers with their postage stamps. This post features the 1973 West Berlin Johann Joachim Quantz postage stamp.
The Composer
Hans Joachim Quantz was born in Oberscheden, a small town in the electorate of Hanover. His father was a blacksmith, and the young Hans was trained to follow his father into that profession. However, his father died when Hans was almost eleven, allowing Hans to choose a different career. He began his musical studies with his uncle Justus Quantz, who was a town musician in Merseburg. The young man showed great talent and beginning in 1714, Quantz studied musical composition. He joined the town band in Dresden in 1716 and he was appointed as the oboist in the Dresden Polish Chapel of August II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. Quantz later decided to pursue the study of the transverse flute.
From 1724 until 1727, Quantz toured throughout Europe, completing his education as a flutist. During that time, he studied counterpoint in Rome, met the famous opera composer Alessandro Scarlatti in Naples, studied flute with Michel Blavet in Paris, and won the support of Handel in London, who tried to convince Quantz to remain there. Upon returning to Dresden, Quantz took an appointment at the Saxon court, where he remained until 1741.
Quantz was greatly admired as a flutist throughout Europe and Frederick the Great, when he was the Crown Prince of Prussia, attempted to hire Quantz. It was only after becoming King of Prussia in 1740 that Frederick was able to hire Quantz to serve as his flute teacher, as well as a flute maker and composer at the court. The flutist remained at the Berlin court for the rest of his career. In addition to teaching and playing, Quantz was known as a prolific composer, writing hundreds of sonatas and concertos (most for flute). Additionally, Quantz built flute and was influential in flute design. He added a second key (Eb) to help with intonation and made eleven flutes for King Frederick the Great.
early 1740s, Berlin
Library of Congress
One of the few Quantz flutes to survive is in the collection of the Library of Congress and can be seen here. The Quantz flute is made of ebony with ivory ferrules and silver keys. It survives with multiple extra joints, which allow the musician to play in a variety of keys (in the eighteenth century there was not a single pitch standard). The component parts all fit into velvet lined trays kept within a porcelain case. The flute was made in the early 1740s in Berlin for Frederick the Great. It is one of the great masterpieces of the Dayton C. Miller flute collection that was donated to the Library of Congress in 1941.
The Stamp
West Berlin, 1973
Scott Number: DE 9N342
The stamp honoring Quantz was appropriately made for the postal service of West Berlin, a separate, but related, postal operation related to that of West Germany. It is a fairly traditional stamp celebrating a famous individual, with a portrait of Quantz appearing in the center of the stamp. The portrait on the stamp appears to come from an image of Quantz created by Johann David Schleuen in 1767. It features Quantz in a fairly typical eighteenth century overcoat (with decorative fringe) and a powdered wig. The portrait is in an oval frame, to the lower left cane been seen sheet music and the end of a wooden flute. Quantz’s name and dates are printed on the left side of the stamp, Detaches Bundespost Berlin, appears on the right.
The stamp is a simple black and white design and has the value of 40 pfennigs. The design of the stamp was Ernst Finke. While I always find honoring a death year (instead of a birth year) is a bit morbid and unusual, it is fairly common for celebrations of composers music and also on stamps. This stamp celebrates the two-hundredth anniversary of the death of Quantz who died in 1773 at the age of 76. As far as I can determine, this is the sole stamp that has been created honoring this important musicians and instrument builder.
