Melchior Heger

Melchior Heger (* 1522 in Brüx , Northern Bohemia ; † 1568 ) was Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1553 to 1564 .

Life

From 1542, Heger studied in Leipzig, the second oldest continuously operated university in what is now the Federal Republic of Germany, founded in 1409 . In 1544 he is listed under the combination of name and region of origin as "Melchior Heger Boemus" as a registered student at the University of Wittenberg . It is assumed that Heger was in Wittenberg - like Heinrich Faber or Johann Reusch - a student of the German composer Sixt Dietrich (* around 1494, † 1548), because they were there at the same time and had overlapping musical interests.

In 1553 - 180 years before Johann Sebastian Bach as the most famous representative - he took over the office of Thomaskantor . Long before Bach's reputation continued to grow, the “most important Protestant cantorate” had a fame that it owed to its past dating back to the 13th century. Therefore, the city council, which since the Reformation, in consultation with the parish of St. Thomas, has appointed the cantor to St. Thomae et Director Musices Lipsiensis , already in Heger's time placed “special emphasis” on filling vacancies, “because the holder of this office depended on Reputation of the choir and thus of the school as a musical institute ”. In addition to his daily work, Heger left a lasting value: Through his commitment, the music library was "considerably" increased. The collection of manuscripts compiled by him with the year 1558 contains a total of 243 polyphonic masses , introductory chants , motets and chorales , which are distributed over five part books ( discantus , altus , tenor , bass , vagans). The pieces handed down by Heger also include various works by the "original cantor of Protestant church music" Johann Walter . This includes u. a. the seven-part Torgau Kirchweih motet, which is still performed today, for example in Torgau in October 2017 on the occasion of a celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. While his predecessor Wolfgang Figulus still had to get along without an adjunct , Heger was put to the side of Simon Wiedemann from Oschatz in 1559 - as was later u. a. Also Valentin Otto received a wizard.

Heger remained cantor of the St. Thomas Church for a total of eleven years until 1564. When he finally volunteered "to be Schulampt and Dinst the Cantorei at Ehrbarem Rath resgnirte " became his withdrawal " of friendly and inclined Willn worship with 50 dollars ". Heger had announced his departure from this position as early as 1562 and aimed for the Reminsicere in 1563. Then he took over a parish in Wiederau , as was customary before - only the successors died as Thomaskantors. With his origins from Bohemia and his professional career that eventually made him a pastor, Heger is part of a temporary tradition in his homeland, which sent her sons to Saxony for academic training and often allowed them to remain as pastors there. In addition to Heger, the Bohemians also provided a number of other Thomaskantors.

The salary as Thomaskantor was 40 guilders a year around 1550 and only rose to 50 guilders after Heger's departure in 1564. Heger u. a. through the school fees to be paid by the students, a share of the income from the choir, and from funeral and wedding income. In addition, special payments were made from time to time, for example a "one-time allowance of 4 shock and 54 groschen" in 1554, an allowance of 10 guilders for wood in the winter of 1559, and an " allowance this year out of goodwill for the sake of diligence " in 1561 Wood because it izo alo thewer and other his abstention "and 1563" out of good will ". In addition, there were rare special earnings from unusual musical achievements in honor of the city of Leipzig, such as in 1561, when Wilhelm von Oranien married the then sixteen-year-old Saxon princess Anna as the second wife and Heger "together with his musicians who keep the singers of the most diligent of the prince's wedding" 5 Gulden and 15 groschen.

Private

He had his apartment in a new Renaissance stone building from 1553: the Alte Thomasschule , the second school building including the alumni of the Thomasschule in Leipzig on the western Thomaskirchhof . During his time in Leipzig he married Regina Otto in 1553, who gave birth to their daughter Regina in 1560, and in 1561 with Margarethe Lungwitz, with whom they fathered their son Hans in 1563. The social position of the Thomaskantor was also evident in the fact that Regina's wife of the mayor at the time became a "godmother", i.e. godmother.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Laura Youens (Ed.): Selected introits from Leipzig 49/50 (1558) . AR Editions, 1984, ISBN 0-89579-195-1 ( full text / preview in Google book search).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Rudolf Wustmann : Music history of Leipzig in three volumes. First volume: Until the middle of the 17th century. Vieweg + Teubner Verlag, 1909, ISBN 978-3-663-15295-8 ( full text / preview in Google book search).
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Melchior Heger (Thomaskantor) - Short Biography with Bach Cantatas (English)
4. ^ German Society for Musicology (ed.): Archive for Music Research, 3rd year . Breitkopf & Härtel, 1938 ( preview in the Google book search). ( Full text via Internet Archive ).
5. ↑ Carolus Eduardus Foerstemann (ed.): Album Academiae Vitebergensis from a. Ch. MDII usque ad a. MDCLX (1502-1560) . tape  1 , 1841, ISBN 3-511-05221-1 ( full text / preview in Google book search).
6. ^ Marie Schlueter: Wittenberg's music history in the 16th century: Source studies and socio-historical investigations . V&R Unipress, 2010, ISBN 978-3-89971-727-3 ( full text / preview in Google book search).
7. ^ Carsten Lange: Structure, function and significance of the German Protestant cantorate in the 16th to 18th centuries: Report on the scientific colloquium on November 2, 1991 in Magdeburg . Ziethen, 1997 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
8. ↑ In the 16th century, a fifth voice was added to the four-part movement, which was called “vagans” because of its vagabond character - it could appear “soon here, soon there”, see: Bruno Aulich: Alte Musik für Hausmusikanten . Heimeran, 1968 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
9. ^ Iain Fenlon (Ed.): The Renaissance: From the 1470s to the end of the 16th century . Macmillan Press, 1989, ISBN 978-0-333-52652-1 ( full text / preview in Google Book Search).
10. ↑ Ulrich Johannes Schneider (Ed.): A cosmos of knowledge: Weltschriftterbe in Leipzig . Leipzig University Library, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86583-343-3 ( limited preview in Google book search).
11. ^ City of Torgau: Torgau celebrates "Luther's Parish Fair" . (PDF) press release from September 22, 2017; accessed on November 16, 2017.
12. ^ Walter Blankenburg: Johann Walter: Life and Work . Verlag Hans Schneider, 1991 ( limited preview in Google book search).
13. ↑ Otto Kaemmel : History of the Leipzig School System: From the beginning of the 13th to the middle of the 19th century (1214-1846) . Springer Fachmedien, 1909, ISBN 978-3-663-15402-0 ( full text / preview in the Google book search).
14. ↑ cit. based on: Rudolf Wustmann, ibid. p. 116 ( full text / preview in the Google book search)
15. ↑ Laura Youens (ed.): Ibid. ( Full text / preview in the Google book search).
16. ↑ ^{a b} Rudolf Wustmann, ibid., 114 ( full text in the Internet Archive ).
17. ^ Siegfried Sieber: Spiritual Relationships between Bohemia and Saxony at the Time of the Reformation , Part 1: Pastors and teachers in the 16th century . (PDF) p. 4.
18. ↑ Jörn Peter Hiekel, Elvira Werner: Musical and cultural interrelationships between Bohemia and Saxony . 2007 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
19. ↑ cit. according to Rudolf Wustmann, ibid. p. 115f ( full text in the Internet Archive ).
20. ↑ cit. according to Rudolf Wustmann, ibid. p. 117 ( full text in the Internet Archive ).