Alexander Keck

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Alexander Keck (born January 6, 1724 in Aschaffenburg , † November 16, 1804 in Mannheim ) was a German Jesuit , educator and musician.

Live and act

Alexander Keck came from Aschaffenburg, became a Jesuit in 1740 and worked as a teacher and music teacher at various schools of his order, most recently and longest in Mannheim. A dissertation from 1751, published in Heidelberg , entitled “Credibilitas Religionis Romano-Catholica Brevi Dissertatione Proposita” has been preserved.

Historical view of Mannheim, 1753. From left to right: Mannheim Palace (northeast corner), Jesuit College (letter "A"), Great Court Church (letter "B"), Jesuit high school (letter "C")

Together with the Palatinate Elector Karl III. Philip , the Jesuits came to Mannheim in 1720. The ruler had the Mannheim Palace built, to which the Jesuit College and the Great Court Church (Jesuit Church) were attached. The order also ran a teaching establishment there, the Catholic grammar school. At the request of Elector Karl Theodor , the Jesuit high school in Mannheim was joined in 1756 by the “Seminarium musicum” . Here, by order of the elector, “a good number of students and young people practicing music” were to be admitted and “instructed in good morals, decent arts, especially instrumental and vocal music” . The institute could be seen as the forerunner of today's music classes in high schools. When the foundation was founded, the musically trained Father Alexander Keck was appointed director, who remained in this position after the dissolution of his order until the end of the music seminar.

On August 21, 1773 Pope Clement XIV abolished the Jesuit order with the bull Dominus ac redemptor noster . Since he was very meritorious in pastoral care in the Electoral Palatinate , held chairs at Heidelberg University , ran several schools and the Mannheim observatory , Elector Karl Theodor tried to postpone the repeal if possible. He initially demanded the written delivery of the bull of repeal and then enabled the previous Jesuits to continue working at their posts as secular clergy. At the same time he was looking for a congregation who would become her legal successor. Here he decided on the order of the Lazarists founded by St. Vincent von Paul and ordered the transfer of all possessions and rights of the previous Jesuits to him on November 7, 1781. It was expressly stated that the Seminarium musicum in Mannheim was to be continued in accordance with its purpose and constitution. Because of the political situation, the Lazarists left the country again in 1796 and finished their work in the Electoral Palatinate.

Alexander Keck remained the head of the Mannheim seminarium musicum even after the Jesuit order was dissolved, then under the Lazarist order and finally after its departure. In 1801 it was finally closed. Until his death in 1804, Father Keck ran a successor institute there called the “Aloysian Seminary” , in which he tried to continue the tradition of the Jesuit grammar school, combined with music education.

In addition to his teaching activities, Keck also acted as music director of the Mannheim Jesuit Church (Great Court Church). One of his most famous collaborators was Paul Wineberger (1758-1821), who worked from 1778 to 1780 as a teacher at the music seminar and organist at the court church. Berühmtester student Alexander Keck was the composer Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792), about whom he said he was one of the best and most skilled Eleven he had jemalen . Kraus composed an anniversary mass in his honor. The priest Karl Klein (1769-1824) also enjoyed his musical training under Alexander Keck. According to Samuel Baur (1768–1832), the composer Georg Joseph Vogler (1749–1814) and the singer Johann Georg Gern (1757–1830) were also among his students.

In 1792, for theological reasons, Alexander Keck was sharply attacked by Johann Peter Arnold Mathy (1755–1825) in his book “Peace with Alexander Keck and feud with the devil” . Arnold Mathy, the father of Baden Minister Karl Mathy , was a liberal Catholic clergyman who converted to Protestantism in 1805 and married. Keck had taken offense at the fasting sermon given by Mathy in Mannheim.

literature

  • Manfred Brandl: The German Catholic Theologians of Modern Times , Volume 2: Enlightenment , 1978, P. 128, ISBN 3853760112 ; (Detail scan)
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Riedel: - the heavenly lives in its tones: Joseph Martin Kraus, a master of classical music , Palatium-Verlag, 1992, p. 25, ISBN 392067104X ; (Detail scan)
  • Intelligence Gazette of the Allgemeine Literaturzeitung , No. 207, December 26, 1804, column 1699 of the year; Obituary for Alexander Keck

Individual evidence

  1. How to find the dissertation
  2. Rüdiger Thomsen-Fürst: Tender Voices in Praise of God; the Seminarium musicum in Mannheim (1756-1801) , in: Festschrift 125 Years of the Choir of the Jesuit Church Mannheim . Mannheim, 2003, pp. 13-29
  3. ^ Reiner Albert, Günther Saltin: Katholisches Leben in Mannheim , Volume 1, p. 389, Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern, 2009, ISBN 978-3-7995-0908-4
  4. Reiner Albert, Günther Saltin: Katholisches Leben in Mannheim , Volume 1, p. 453, Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern, 2009, ISBN 978-3-7995-0908-4
  5. ^ Website on the history of the Lazarists in the Electoral Palatinate
  6. ^ Biographical website on Paul Wineberger
  7. ^ Helmut Brosch: Joseph Martin Kraus Memorial: Vleugels music collection, Albert Brosch folk song collection; a guide through the music history collections of the Bezirksmuseum Buchen , Verein Bezirksmuseum eV Buchen, 2003, p. 21, ISBN 3923699239 ; (Detail scan)
  8. Reiner Albert, Günther Saltin: Katholisches Leben in Mannheim , Volume 1, p. 391, Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern, 2009, ISBN 978-3-7995-0908-4
  9. ^ Franz von Besnard: literary newspaper for the Catholic clergy , twentieth year, 2nd volume, Landshut 1829, page 112; (Digital scan)
  10. Joseph Kürschner:  Gern, Johann Georg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, pp. 33-35.
  11. Samuel Baur : General historical-biographical-literary concise dictionary of all strange people who died in the first decade of the nineteenth century , 1st volume, Ulm, 1816, column 714; (Digital scan)
  12. data page in the German biography
  13. ^ Lothar Gall : Bourgeoisie in Germany . Siedler, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-88680-259-0 , p. 261
  14. Oberdeutsche Allgemeine Litteraturzeitung , No. 137, of November 16, 1792, columns 943 to 947 of the year; (Digital scan)
  15. ^ Ildephons Schwarz, Johann Baptist Schad: Instructions for the knowledge of those books which are essentially necessary and useful to the candidates of theology, the town and country preachers, vicarages etc. in the Catholic Church , Volume 2, p. 352, Coburg, 1804; (Digital scan)