Leonhard Paminger

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Leonhard Paminger. The inscription reads: ISTA LEONARTI PAMINGERI EFFIGIES EST / CORPORE PRAESTANTIS INGENIOQVE VIRI / QUI BENE CHRISTICOLA DE POSTERITATE MERENDO / VESTIIT HARMONICIS DOGMATA SACRA MODIS. German: "This is the picture of Leonhard Paminger, / of a man who is outstanding in form and spiritual gifts, / who, doing his work for posterity who believe in Christ, / has clothed the sacred doctrines in harmonious music."

Leonhard Paminger (born March 29, 1495 in Aschach an der Donau , † May 3, 1567 in Passau ) was an Austrian composer .

Life

He was born and baptized in Aschach an der Donau ( Upper Austria ). His father, Andreas Paminger, was a councilor there and may have been in the service of the Counts of Schaumburg .

We only know a little about Leonhard Paminer's life that is reported by his sons and by a biography of Oettinger's seminary rector Philipp Albert Christfels from 1764.

Thus Paminger was already at the age of 10 years in Vienna , where he - a job on the - after a burdensome school choir of St. Stephan was able to obtain. There he was valued for his deep bass and his skills on the harp , lute and flute . Paminger, who was fluent in Latin and Greek , also taught himself a knowledge of composition in self-lessons.

Around 1517, at the age of 22, he came to the Augustinian Canons' Monastery of St. Nikola near Passau , probably as a school assistant. He remained in the service of the monastery until his death . After marrying Elisabeth Agnes, he took up residence in a house with a garden in Hofmark , which at that time did not belong to Passau, but was under the control of the Bavarian dukes . It is believed that he was appointed head of this school around 1529. The archival traces of this school are small. Later visitation reports mention three or four “directed beds” for the pupils and choirboys.

The Reformation found resonance in the monastery of St. Nikola. Until immediately before his death, Leonhard Paminger also took part in the debate on religious issues with writings. So he wrote “Writings against the papists, Anabaptists, sacramentarians and opponents of the pure doctrine of the Son of God ” as well as a “Brief report of corruptions and errors, the presence of the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in salvation. Supper matters ”. ( Regensburg 1567)

Martin Luther sent Paminger his commentary on the letter to the Galatians with a personal dedication : "Suo Leonhardo Pamingero, fideli institutori pueritiae Christianae et Musico inter primos laudabili" ( To his Leonhard Paminger, the faithful teacher of Christian youth and among the first musicians to be praised ).

Paminger dedicated two compositions - in keeping with the humanistic tradition - with Latin-Greek instructions and riddles to the Wittenberg Greek professor and theologian Philipp Melanchthon .

It remains to be seen whether these contacts with the Reformation are sufficient to call him a Protestant . It is important for the prevailing climate of tolerance that Paminger was able to rise to the position of secretary, the highest lay monastery office, despite the Reformation turmoil in the monastery convent and thus became the right hand of the provost .

In addition to theological treatises and translations of ancient comedies, Paminger left behind a very extensive compositional work that his sons Sophonias and Sigismund published between 1573 and 1580. In this edition of the “Cantiones ecclesiasticae”, which has only survived in a few copies , around 700 church music vocal works by Paminger have been preserved, including the setting of the almost complete Psalter .

Paminger's wife died in 1557, and in 1562 he married a widow named Barbara, whom he had to carry to her grave in 1564. He himself died on May 3, 1567 at the old age of 72 and was buried in Passau - St. Nikola .

Work edition

  • Heinz-Walter Schmitz (Ed.): Leonhard Paminger 1495-1567. Selected works I and II . Passau 1995 (Musica sacra Passaviensis 38-39)
  • Passau Christmas songs (publisher: Konrad Ruhland ) = Music from Eastern Bavaria, issue 1. (Carus Verlag, originally at Musikverlag Alfred Coppenrath, Altötting, 1987)
  • Music for the 4 Sundays in Advent, S. Nicolao and S. Barbara . (From: Primus Tomus Ecclesiasticarum Cantionum Nürnberg 1573, booklet 2). Cornetto Publishing House
  • Motet Primo vero die sopra La Spagna . Cornetto Publishing House
  • Oh God, didn't punish me . Tonos music publisher
  • Novum et insigne opus musicum with works by Leonhard Paminger

literature

personal data
SURNAME Paminger, Leonhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian composer
DATE OF BIRTH March 29, 1495
PLACE OF BIRTH Aschach on the Danube
DATE OF DEATH May 3, 1567
Place of death Passau