Angelus Dreher
Angelus Dreher , bourgeois Joseph Thomas Dreher , (born October 20, 1741 in Kirchheim in Swabia ; † July 20, 1809 there ) was a Dominican and composer of the pre-classical period ( Mannheim School ).
life and work
Angelus Dreher was born as a twin in Kirchheim, Swabia , as the son of the rent manager of Kirchheim, brewery administrator, court clerk and treasurer Rochus Dreher and his wife Theresia Dreher . His brother died shortly after he was born. He was baptized in the name of Joseph Thomas. The godparents were the then Herr zu Kirchheim, Count Cajetan Josef Anton Fugger von Kirchberg-Weißenhorn, and his wife Maria Anna. He received his training as a composer in the Dominican monastery in Kirchheim, where music care was in full bloom around 1750. There he received his religious name Angelus . At the age of 18, Angelus Dreher entered the order in 1759 and took over the service of organist and became choirmaster , later confessor. After studying theology and philosophy in Augsburg , he was ordained a priest in 1764 .
For the Passion Play in Schwäbisch Gmünd in 1774 and 1775 he composed several new works that corresponded to contemporary tastes and represent the high point of his compositional work. They include the oratorio The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard and the oratorio The Parable of the Prodigal Son . His scores alone are over 200 pages. In 1776 and 1777 he was in Regensburg , where he composed the music for the interlude Daniel as part of the tragedy Jehanguir .
On April 27, 1777, Angelus Dreher came back from Regensburg to Kirchheim in Swabia , where he became organist and librarian and worked until the monastery was dissolved in the course of secularization in 1808. Angelus Dreher died on July 20, 1809 at the age of 67. On July 22nd, 1809 he was buried in the cemetery near St. Leonhard's Chapel in Kirchheim.
The oratorio The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard was performed again in Schwäbisch Gmünd in 1958. For a long time it was believed that only the Gmünder Passion Music of Dreher's work had survived. In 2001 an additional 18 vocal and instrumental works were found through research in the Berlin State Library of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and in the Thurgau Cantonal Library in Frauenfeld (Switzerland). The vocal works found include four arias, two duets, a hymn and a requiem . The instrumental works consist of an overture and nine symphonies. The first performance of selected works from the new discoveries took place in 2009 by the Kirchheim church choir .
Dreher's works show the stylistic devices of the pre-classical period ( Mannheim school ). Elements such as homophonic sentence structures, small motif themes or rococo-like decorations make his compositions sound light and carefree.
literature
- Aegidius Kolb: Unterallgäu district , MZ-Verlagsdruckerei GmbH Memmingen 1987
- Ernst Striebel and Helmut Striebel: History of the Kirchheim market and its districts , Pröll Druck und Verlag GmbH Augsburg 1990
- Anton Wiedemann: History of the Kirchheim market with views of the surroundings , Kirchheimer Landbote 1931
- Association for the History of the Augsburg Diocese: Yearbook of the Association for the History of the Diocese of Augsburg e. V. , Volume 36 , 2002
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dreher, Angelus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Dreher, Joseph Thomas (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dominican and composer of the pre-classical period (Mannheim School) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 20, 1741 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kirchheim in Swabia |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 20, 1809 |
| Place of death | Kirchheim in Swabia |