Joseph Niedhammer
Joseph Niedhammer (born March 8, 1851 in Wachenheim an der Weinstrasse , † June 29, 1908 in Speyer ) was a German composer and cathedral music director in Speyer.
Life
Origin and early work
Niedhammer was born in Wachenheim in 1851 as the son of the winemaker Adam Niedhammer and his wife Elisabeth, b. Hefele was born. 1866 to 1868 he attended the catholic college as a student. School teacher training institute in Speyer , where Johann Baptist Benz became his musical teacher and mentor. After completing his teacher training, he stayed from 1869 to 1872 as the first seminar assistant teacher at the same institute. In this capacity he was responsible for supervising the associated boarding school and giving specialist lessons in the seminar school. He then officiated as a primary school teacher in Neustadt and finally went to Munich to study church music, for which he showed great interest and talent. From January 1, 1874, he worked as a teacher at the Preparatory School (teacher training seminar) in Blieskastel . There he taught the future educators in music, German, history and religion. Here he developed a rich musical activity, also acted as an organist and directed the local church choir. Under his aegis, the Walcker organ, Opus 363, was purchased for the Blieskastel teachers' seminar in 1879 and is now located in the Catholic part of the Neustadt collegiate church . Joseph Niedhammer played, taught and composed very often on the still unchanged “German-Romantic” instrument.
Cathedral conductor and composer
On February 1, 1887, Anton Häfele , music teacher at the Speyer Teachers Training Institute, who was also cathedral organist and cathedral music director, retired. The Bavarian Ministry of Education decided on Joseph Niedhammer as his successor in the school service. He took up the position on the day his predecessor retired. In Speyer he only needed to teach music at the teachers' college. In 1888, Niedhammer was also appointed cathedral organist and cathedral music director from Bishop Georg von Ehrler . He held this office until 1908. He was also busy as a composer, although his works are almost forgotten today. In the sheet music inventory on the website of the Alsatian Cäcilien-Verein, two works by Niedhammer are currently listed in the sheet music repertoire, namely an 11-page, Latin, a-cappella motet with the title Tu es Petrus (Pustet Verlag) and a 2 -page German Herz-Jesu song with the title: Mein Herz erglugt (Verlag Anton Böhm). Both compositions are from 1903. Under the title Germanus und Romanus (Speyer 1901) there is also a German festival by him. In the book History of the Teacher Training Institute Speyer (1978) it says about Niedhammer's works: "Of his church compositions one or the other polyphonic mass can still be heard today at the chapter office in Speyer Cathedral." The obituary for the 100th birthday, in pilgrim no. 44 from 1951 stated:
“In 1888 he was appointed cathedral music director and led the cathedral choir to an unprecedented level. With enthusiasm and skill he cultivated the then flourishing Cecilian movement (Catholic church choir association) which in the pre-war period (before 1914) brought an extraordinary fertilization in the field of church music. His numerous compositions, which were sung in many German places of worship, emerged from a marriage of romantic sound and Gregorian spirituality. Even if he was still caught in the taste of his time, the emphasis on the Gregorian chant made him a pioneer in today's church music development. Niedhammer was a gifted master of the organ and his improvisations were famous. He trained numerous Palatinate teachers as organists and choir teachers [...] all those who were lucky enough to be trained in the school of this excellent and deeply devout man keep a grateful memory for him. "
A well-known work by the Palatinate composer is his Mass Op. 10 Missa in honorem Sancti Ludovici Regis for mixed choir, published by Schwann, in Düsseldorf. His eight-part Kaiser requiem , which he composed especially for the reburial of the German emperors buried in Speyer Cathedral, after the crypt renovation was completed, became famous at the time. In the booklet The Opening of the Imperial Tombs in Speyer Cathedral by Cathedral Vicar Jakob Baumann it says:
"10. July 1906. The cathedral had put on large mourning decorations. Seats were reserved in the royal choir for the representatives of the Prince Regent and the Emperor of Austria [...] At 10 o'clock the cathedral clergy received the most revered Bishop Dr. Konrad von Busch at the cathedral portal and led him to the high altar, where he soon celebrated a solemn pontifical office, for which the cathedral choir performed a poignant imperial request composed by the knight of the New Year's Eve , cathedral conductor Niedhammer. "
As already mentioned in the book quote, Niedhammer was awarded the papal New Year's Eve . He had to give up his position at the teacher training institute in 1905 due to illness, and worked as cathedral music director until his death. He was buried in the old cemetery in Speyer , the tombstone is now in the cathedral chapter cemetery there next to the St. Bernhard Church. The magnificent tomb with a figure of St. Cäcilia , patroness of church music, was donated by the Cäcilienvereine der Pfalz in 1911 .
literature
- Eugen Leininger: Cathedral conductor Joseph Niedhammer . In: The Church Singer , 1939.
- Joseph Niedhammer in memory (obituary for his 100th birthday). In: Der Pilger , Speyer, No. 44 from 1951, p. 698 of the year.
- Jakob Baumann: The opening of the imperial tombs in Speyer Cathedral . Pilger Verlag, Speyer (numerous editions, up to the most recent times).
- Jakob Bisson : Seven Speyer bishops and their time . Pilger-Verlag, Speyer 1956, pp. 96, 147, 172.
- Fritz Steegmüller: History of the teacher training institute Speyer, 1839-1937 . Pilger-Verlag, Speyer 1978, mainly p. 56 u. 57.
- Fritz Steegmüller: 1000 years of Musica Sacra at the Episcopal Church in Speyer, 883-1983 . Pilger-Verlag, Speyer 1983 (with its own chapter on Joseph Niedhammer).
- Viktor Carl: Lexicon of Palatinate personalities . 3. Edition. Hennig, Edenkoben 2004, p. 635.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Pilgrim No. 44, 1951
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Niedhammer, Joseph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German composer and cathedral music director in Speyer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 8, 1851 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wachenheim on the Wine Route |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 29, 1908 |
| Place of death | Speyer |