Zelenka at that time that his colleague Hasse was, and would remain, senior Kapellmeister. This led the Dresden court to create the official position of church composer (essentially Vice-Kapellmeister), which Zelenka held from 1734 onwards, along with his student Tobias Buz and, from November 1736 onwards, J.S. Bach, who received a "titular" position. Later life and death Bach held Zelenka in high esteem, and the two composers knew each other, as evidenced by a letter of 13 January 1775 from his son C.P.E. Bach to the Bach biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel. Bach was trusted enough by Zelenka for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann to copy out the Amen from Zelenka's third Magnificat (ZWV 108) to use in the Leipzig's St. Thomas' Church, where J. S. Bach was cantor for the last two and a half decades of his life. In addition to composing, Zelenka taught throughout his life a number of prominent musicians of his time, like Johann Joachim Quantz (Frederick the Great of Prussia's longtime court flautist and flute teacher) and J. G. Roellig. His close friends included eminent composers such as Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Georg Pisendel and Sylvius Leopold Weiss. On 23 December 1745, Zelenka died of dropsy and was buried on Christmas Eve. He never married and had no children, and his compositions and musical estate were purchased from his beneficiaries by the Electress of Saxony and the Queen of Poland Maria Josepha of Austria. After his death, these were considered valuable court possessions. Telemann, with Pisendel's assistance, tried unsuccessfully to publish Zelenka's "Responsoria." On 17 April 1756, he wrote that "the complete manuscript will be at the Dresden court, kept under lock and key as something very rare." Musical style Zelenka's pieces are characterized by a very daring compositional structure with a highly spirited harmonic invention and complex counterpoint. His works are often virtuosic and difficult to perform, but always fresh and surprising, with sudden turns of harmony. In particular, his writing for bass instruments is far more demanding than that of other composers of his era. His instrumental works, the trio sonatas, capricci, and concertos are exemplary models of his early style (1710s –1720s). The six trio sonatas demand high virtuosity and expressive sensitivity from performers. As Zelenka was himself a violone player, he was known to write fast-moving continuo parts with driving and complicated rhythm. Zelenka was aware of the music in different