Justin Heinrich Knecht was born in Biberach an der Riss in 1752, where he died in 1817 after a richly fulfilling musical life – he was a teacher, organist, cantor and conductor of the respected Biberach Orchestra Association

The pastoral character of the “Shepherds’ Songs” reflects the gallant, sensitive style of the era, and the piano-based variations correspond entirely to the practice of southern German organ music.

The change in intellectual and aesthetic perception in the second half of the 18th century not only brought the organ into the wake of secular music, it also paved the way for the depiction of thunderstorms and storms, which until then had largely been reserved for scenic and oratorio works. the path to the organ galleries.

The “Shepherd’s Wonne” is a through-composed scene that is integrated into a clearly manageable three-part large-scale form. The 1st and 5th movements contain the shepherds’ songs, the 3rd movement contains the storm that foreshadows musical romanticism. The remaining two sets have joint function. The 20 thunder places, which anticipate the cluster technique of our century, also seem to correspond to the overall symmetrical structure of the composition. The strongest “thunder with blows” booms right in the middle of the work.