Johann Rasch

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Special postage stamp of the Deutsche Bundespost from 1982 for the anniversary "400 years Gregorian calendar ". Designed
by Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski , based on a representation by Johann Rasch

Johann Rasch (* in or around 1540 in Pöchlarn ; † 1612 in Vienna ) was an Austrian cleric , writer , composer , organist , mathematician and bookseller . He is the author of one of the oldest wine books in German.

Life

Born in 1540 in Pöchlarn, Lower Austria, Johann Rasch came to Mondsee Abbey as a choirboy . There he probably also enjoyed training on instruments and began to study. From 1559 to 1560 he studied at the universities of Wittenberg and then also in Vienna. From this time it is known that he attended mathematical, astronomical, historical and legal lectures . He then worked for a short time from 1561 to 1563 in Mondsee Abbey as a cleric. He made many trips and was employed as schoolmaster and organist in the Schottenstift in Vienna in 1570 . He received citizenship from the City of Vienna and ran a bookstore alongside his job as an organist. Through his employment in the Schottenstift he had access to the monastery library, which he used for his studies. He wrote many cultural, calendar, historical and genealogical works. His writings also bear witness to contemporary phenomena, such as astrology, and are considered to be Austrian dialectology.

The first German-language wine book Von Baw, Pflege und Brauch des Weins , published in 1580 and 1582, can be regarded as an undoubtedly outstanding work . It developed into a classic in wine literature. For the first time, it provides comprehensive information on viticulture and cellar technology and wine tasting. He also describes the brewing of beer and the production of vinegar , mead and brandy . The flavored wines popular at the time, such as vermouth , herbal wine and rosemary wine, are also discussed. He builds on works by the Roman writer Palladius and Arnaldus de Villanova (1240–1311), from which he repeatedly cites.

As a cleric, in the first part of the book he deals with the theological meaning of wine in the Eucharist and the prohibition of wine in Islam . He then deals with the practice in the second part. For example, he describes such curious things as making wine nicer with warm cow's milk, how to check whether the wine has been diluted with water or how to make white wine from red wine. Originals of the wine book are in the Augsburg State and City Library in the edition from 1580 and in the Bavarian State Library in Munich in the edition from 1582. There is also a music manuscript with German organ tablature.

The musicologist Othmar Wessely summarized: “Johann Rasch was an extraordinarily versatile and highly gifted personality in the field of mainly compilation production. Compared to literary activity, his musical work is much less important, even though his Latin motets and his arrangement of German church hymns prove him to be a skilled composer and connoisseur of evangelical songs. "

In 1894 the Raschgasse in Vienna- Hietzing was named in his honor. Since the association's ten-year existence, the regional association of winegrowers in Lower Austria has awarded a so-called Johann Rasch plaque for special services to viticulture. With it the memory of Johann Rasch is to be preserved.

Johann Rasch as a calendar researcher

During Rasch's lifetime, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582. The elimination of 10 days and the changed leap year regulation created a need for generally understandable writings on the new calendar . Rasch wrote several works on this subject. a. Peasant rules , lost days and the Easter cycle were first dedicated to a new annual calendar in 1584. He also published writings on the calendar with prophecies and astrological content.

Fonts

Title page of the book "Weinbau" by Johann Rasch, reprint of the edition from around 1580, Renate Schoene - Society for the History of Wine
  • with Siegmund Feyerabend: Biblical figures of the New Testament even artificially torn. 1562.
  • Nininite lament. 1578.
  • Wine book. About Baw, care and custom of wine. It is very important to all Weinbaw gentlemen, wine dealers, Wierthen and Weinschencken to know ... 1580 and 1582.
  • Fasting rhyme. 1583.
  • Calendarium Romanum Aethnicae Vetustatis. 1584.
  • A new annual calendar. 1584.
  • Counterpractic Against a number of outgoing prophecies, prognostic and writings especially of the Misocaci about the 84th and 88th Jare from the end of the high slaughter change of the kingdom and religion Newem Calendar of the last time Antichrist and end of the world. 1584.
  • Fasting praise. 1588 ( digitized version ).
  • Practica, against a number of prophecies and prognostica, especially of the Misocaci, of the Antichrist, of late, of the end of the world, of the change of higher sex, of the change of realms and religion, a judgment and general report, except the accidents of July 6th and 7th 88. Miracle Jars. 1586.
  • Practica on the great miracle Schaltjar 1588. 1588.
  • New calendar. 1590.
  • New Lossag. 1590.
  • with Johannes Rassio: Genesis Austriaca. around 1594.

Compositions

Prints

All published in Munich in 1572 by Ad. Mountain.

  • Salve regina to six votes
  • Cantiunculae pascales to four voices
  • Quatuor vocum cantica quaedam ecclesiastica de Nativitate Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi to four voices
  • In monte olivarum to four votes

manuscript

  • Manuscript No. 1640, 135 (Codex of the 16th and 17th centuries with German organ tablature) in the State Library in Munich.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. From food, natural and Kreuter wine ... Frankfurt am Main 1531. Reprinted Leipzig 1984.
  2. ↑ Music in the past and present : Rasch, Johann , Vol. 11 (1963), p. 1

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Quickly, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian writer, historian, genealogist, cleric, organist and bookseller
DATE OF BIRTH around 1540
PLACE OF BIRTH Pöchlarn
DATE OF DEATH 1612
Place of death Vienna