Johan Agrell (1701–1765) was born in the Swedish province of Östergötland and studied music in Uppsala. Most of his professional career, however, was spent in Germany. He was recruited from Sweden to Kassel as a member of the royal orchestra, where he became famous as a virtuoso on both harpsichord and violin. In 1746 he moved to Nuremberg as the city’s director of music, which he remained until his death in 1765. He married in 1749 and had a daughter [concert program 2001], but probably no descendants named Agrell.
Although Johan Agrell was an appreciated musician and conductor, it is as composer he is remembered today. His music belongs to the very last part of the baroque era, in some details looking ahead into the Viennese classical school. He wrote concertos, sonatas, and various types of church music. It has been claimed that all his church music [Eppstein] and all his vocal music [Prophone] has been lost, but this is fortunately not entirely correct. Thanks to W. Riedelbauch and R. Freund [personal comm.], we now know that a library in Göttingen holds a manuscript that includes a set of eight motets by Johan Agrell (see Further literature below).
Johan Agrell even wrote symponies, and according to some historicians (Valentin, who cites Brenet and Fink; and Norling, who cites Morgenroth), he did so before anyone else, including Sammartini and Stamitz, who are also known for early symphonies. Johan Agrell’s six symphonies opus 1 were composed already in 1725 [Valentin] and he composed a total of at least 22 symphonies [Lindfors]. Lindgren points out that he was also the originator of the “fully developed sonata form” [Valentin].
Regardless of how original the music is, however, listening to it is a pure pleasure. I really recommend finding some of it—it is worth it.
Johan Agrell and his brother Jonas were the first persons named Agrell in our family.
From Johan Agrell's second symphony, op. 1, 1725 [Norling].