Graun, Carl Heinrich, 1704-59, German composer, best known for his oratorio Der Tod Jesu (1755), for many years performed annually in Germany. As musical director to Frederick the Great, who wrote the libretto of Graun's Montezuma (1755), he was also director of the opera at Berlin, where his own Italianate operas and those of Johann Hasse dominated the stage. His brother, Johann Gottlieb Graun, 1703-71, also in the service of the court as a violinist, was the composer of 100 symphonies and many other works.