Erasmus Lapicida

Erasmus Lapicida (actually Erasmus Steinmetz ; * around 1450; † November 19, 1547 in Vienna ) was a Franco-Flemish composer , singer and cleric of the Renaissance .

Live and act

The biography of this composer, as far as it is known today, is particularly striking for two reasons. On the one hand, he reached an unusually old age for that time after the chronicler Johann Rasch wrote in 1586: Lapicida was “a little man at a hundred years old”; thus, based on the documented date of death, a year of birth around 1450 is assumed. On the other hand, the first 60 years of his life are completely in the dark because the first evidence of his work begins in 1510. The assumption about his origin in the city of Trento , as expressed by the music historian Susan Researcher-Weiss in 2000, and other assumptions are therefore pure, unfounded speculations. Another composer named "Erasmus" or "Rasmo" who appears in Italian manuscripts and prints is, in the opinion of the music researcher Ludwig Finscher (1977), not identical to Erasmus Lapicida because of Lapicida's biography and because of stylistic discrepancies in the composition, an opinion which is not necessarily shared by other music historians in the meantime.

The composer is documented from 1510 as a singer and composer of religious songs in the court orchestra of Palatine Elector Ludwig V (reign 1508–1544) in Heidelberg until around 1520. Around 1515 he came into contact with the German music theorist here Andreas Ornitoparchus (around 1490 - after 1530), who gave lectures in Heidelberg; this counted Lapicida in his work "Musica active micrologus" ( Leipzig 1517) to the composers with a "probata auctoritas". Around this time Lapicida apparently also had connections to circles of the House of Habsburg , because in 1514 he had composed the motet "Sacerdos et pontifex" for the celebration of the election of Bernhard von Cles as Bishop of Trento and dedicated a poem of homage to him. Around the year 1521 it has the Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand I (reign as Archduke 1521-1531) on Schottenkloster in Vienna a stipend awarded; Lapicida stayed there for the remaining 26 years of his life. This indicates that the composer was clerical. He worked with Heinrich Finck in this monastery to found a choir . In Vienna between 1527 and 1534 he met the theologian and music theorist Johann Zanger (1517–1587), who later reported on a dispute between Lapicida, Stephan Mahu and Arnold von Bruck in his work “Practicae musicae praecepta” (Leipzig 1554) . This was about the interpretation of the scale mark without a vertical line. In 1539 Lapicida took part in the funeral services for Isabella of Portugal , deceased wife of Emperor Charles V , in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna . In 1544 the composer asked Ferdinand I for a grace payment of 15 kreuzers because of his old age. This was granted to him and paid regularly until his death in 1547. Sebastianus Solidus mourned the composer's death in a Latin elegy , where he is called "musicus celebris".

meaning

Towards the end of his life, Erasmus Lapicida must have had a clear reputation. However, the uncertainties about the attribution of his complete works and his unusually long life make it difficult to get a clear overall picture of him, especially because only a small part of his sacred and secular works has survived. This part that has been handed down testifies to Lapicida's versatile talent and great stylistic diversity. He was one of the first composers to create polyphonic settings of the Lamentationes Hieremiae ( Lamentations of Jeremiah ). Ottaviano dei Petrucci from Venice , the first sheet music printer with movable types, has included Lapicida's compositions in his compilations, including the Flemish song Tandernacken from 1503. His German song arrangements are close to the style of Heinrich Isaac , but they testify through some features such as simultaneous cadencing of all voices and belcanto-like melodies create a very personal style.

The motets “Nativitas tua, Dei genitrix” and “Virgo prudentissima” show the arrangement of clearly structured sections of the chorale partly in four-part imitations , partly as cantus firmus with longer values ​​in the tenor , which is quite typical for the four-part motet of the late 15th century was. The tribute motet “Sacerdos et pontifex” proves to be of high compositional quality through a cantus firmus, which is based on a soggetto cavato (a theme taken from the words) with notes from the vowels of the motto “Bernardus Clesius Episcopus tridentinus” and canon indications for the contrapuntal Basis of the composition. In the piece with the author's indication “Rasmo” and the beginning of the text “Pietà, cara signora” / “La pietà ha chiuso le porte”, the melody of the frottola “La pietà ha chiuso” by Bartolomeo Tromboncino (around 1470 to around 1535) and the melody of the frottola "Pietà, cara signora" by Marco Cara († around 1530) combined with two voices composed by the author himself.

Works

• Spiritual works
  • "Ave regina caelorum" to four voices (Author: "Erasmus")
  • "Benedictus Dominus" to four voices (1506; Author: "Erasmus")
  • “Efferor ad manus” to four voices
  • "Gloriosi principes terrae" / "Petrus Apostolus" with five voices (author: "Erasmus"; partly attributed to Jean Mouton )
  • "Lamentatio Jeremiae" to three voices (1506; Author: "Erasmus")
  • "Nativitas tua, Dei genitrix" for four voices (1505)
  • "Sacerdos et pontifex" to four voices (1514)
  • "Veni electa mea" for four voices (1538)
  • "Virgo prudentissima" to four voices (1505)
• Secular Works (to four voices)
  • "Oh noble N." (1539)
  • "That delights me" (1539)
  • "It lives me hertz" (1519/1539)
  • "Good thing must have because" (1539)
  • "I hope it is almost possible" (1539)
  • "Never more dear" (1539)
  • "O herzigs S." (1539)
  • "Tandernaken" (1504)
  • Frottola "Pietà, cara signora" / "La pietà ha chiuso le porte" (1509; author: "Rasmo")
  • textless piece (around 1535)

Literature (selection)

• Ludwig Nowak: The German society song in Austria from 1480 to 1550. In: Studies on musicology (supplements of the DTÖ) No. 17, 1930, pages 21–52
• R. Lunelli: Contributi alle relazioni musicali fra l'Italia e la Germania nel Rinascimiento. In: Acta musicologica No. 21, 1949, pages 41-70
• H.-J. Moser: Johannes Zangers Praecepta. In: Musica disciplina No. 5, 1951, page 199 and following
• H. Federhofer: Biographical contributions to Erasmus Lapicida and Stephan Mahu. In: Die Musikforschung No. 5, 1952, pp. 37-46
• Othmar Wessely : An unknown letter from Erasmus Lapicida. In: Music Education No. 8, 1954/55, pages 38-40
• Same thing: news on the life story of Erasmus Lapicida. In: Anzeiger der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophical-historical class no. 92, 1955, pages 85-93
• The same: New contributions to the life story of Erasmus Lapicida. In: Kirchenmusikalisches Jahrbuch No. 41, 1957, pages 16-19
• G. Pietzsch: Sources and research on the history of music at the Palatinate court in Heidelberg until 1622 , Mainz 1963
• Othmar Wessely: Court orchestra members and other musicians in the Preces registers of Ferdinand I. In: Festschrift for H. Husmann, edited by H. Becker / R. Gerlach, Munich 1970, pages 313-324
• WF Prizer: Courtly Pastimes: the Frottole of Marchetto Cara , Ann Arbor 1980 (= Studies in Musicology No. 33)
• R. Vettori: L'ambiente e le testimonianze musicale nel Trentino al tempo di Bernardo Clesio. In: Bernardo Clesio e il suo tempo, edited by P. Prodi, Volume 2, Rome 1988, pages 651-687
• SM Keyl: Arnolt Schlick and Instrumental Music circa 1500 , dissertation at Duke University 1989 (University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor / Michigan No. 9001061)
• R. Vettori: Musiche per i principi vescovi: La corte dei Clesio e dei Mandruzzo. In: Musica e società nella storia trentina, edited by R. Dalmonte, Trient 1994, pages 241-279
• M. Gozzi: Music history of the Trient region up to 1600. In: From the beginnings to the early modern times, edited by K. Drexel / M. Fink, Innsbruck 2001, page 407-593 (= music history of Tyrol No. 1)

Web links

• Works by and about Erasmus Lapicida in the catalog of the German National Library
• Lapicida Erasmus: Tandernaken : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project

swell

1. ↑ The Music in Past and Present (MGG), Person Part Volume 10, Bärenreiter and Metzler, Kassel and Basel 2003, ISBN 3-7618-1120-9
2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 5: Köth - Mystical Chord. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1981, ISBN 3-451-18055-3 .