Thomas Stoltzer

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Thomas Stoltzer (* around 1475 in Swidnica , Duchy of Swidnica , † March 1526 in Znojmo , South Moravia ) was a German composer of the Renaissance .

Live and act

Nothing is known about Thomas Stoltzer's youth. The town clerk of Schweidnitz, Clemens Stolczer, who was verifiably active between 1468 and 1499, was perhaps a relative, possibly even the composer's father. There are numerous indications that Stoltzer was very familiar with the works of Heinrich Finck (1444–1527); however, a direct student body, as some places claim, cannot be proven. Stoltzer made a name for himself as a composer early on beyond the borders of Silesia: in his Poetics (Vienna 1518) the humanist Joachim Vadianus praised Thomas Slesius as a musician of high comprehension and creativity.

Stoltzer is directly attested to from 1519 in the account books of the Breslau cathedral chapter, where as vicarius discontinuus , i.e. as a clergyman without permanent attendance, he took care of the musical arrangement of the high church festivals. It is obvious that at least some of his liturgical compositions were created here. Shortly afterwards, Stoltzer came into contact with the Reformation through the "Silesian Reformer" Johann Hess and became friends with it, but never officially joined it. Instead, he received the income from the Wrocław benefices (City Church St. Elisabeth) until the end of his life. based.

After Stoltzer had given music to the wedding celebrations of King Ludwig II of Hungary with Princess Maria from the House of Habsburg , daughter of Philip the Fair on January 13, 1522, he was appointed Kapellmeister to the Hungarian royal court in Ofen on May 8, 1522 at Mary's request called. The music-loving queen arranged for Stoltzer to set Luther's German psalms to music for exclusive use at her own court. Here the composer had built a large band consisting of German and Hungarian singers. The newly created compositions reflect the high level of performance of this band. In 1522 and 1526, Duke Albrecht of Prussia stayed at the Hungarian court, which apparently aroused the desire for another change in Stoltzer. In the only document handed down from his hand, a letter to Duke Albrecht dated February 23, 1526, the composer speaks of the recently completed setting of Psalm 37, which, in addition to its unusual length, is also something particularly artistic new; In addition, he indicates in the letter that he is interested in a job at the Prussian court and encloses the Latin setting of the 29th Psalm Exaltabo te with the letter , which, however, has not survived.

However, there was no longer any change to the Prussian court. The mentioned letter to Königsberg received the chancellery note Thomas seliger writes , which indicates the composer's death, which has occurred in the meantime. Apparently Stoltzer had to flee from the approaching Turks in the direction of Prague together with large parts of the Hungarian court and, according to the words of the humanist Johannes Lang (1503–1567), drowned in the Thaya River near Znojmo in March 1526 .

meaning

Stoltzer's work encompassed all musical forms of his time, with the focus in his time in Wroclaw initially on liturgical music. Later, during his time in Ofen, he turned more to free spiritual edification music (psalm motets ), which had no permanent place in the mass. Although he was about 30 years younger than his model Heinrich Finck, he leaned earlier and much more decisively on the Franco-Flemish motet style around 1500 ( Josquin Desprez ). In doing so, he did not deny his German origins by maintaining the cantus firmus and also in the last years of his creative life realized a painterly and affective word setting in his compositions. Even at the end of the 16th century, movements such as the sonically fully balanced motet O admirabile commercium , composed entirely of the text, were distributed and performed through prints. The settings of Psalms 12, 13, 37 and 86, which were made between 1524 and 1526 on the basis of the Luther text and were requested by the Hungarian Queen Maria, show the first in their bitter tonal character and in their abundant use of musical figures and profound symbols The climax of a typical German polyphony. It can be described as the musical counterpart to the fine arts of Albrecht Dürer , Veit Stoss and Tilman Riemenschneider . They are also considered to be the first great sacred compositions in a national language, after Latin was the basis of all word settings up to now . At the same time, they mark the turning point initiated by the Reformation towards the use of the vernacular in the liturgy. Two generations later, his compositional style in Lutheran Central Germany was regarded as the ultimate model of new composing. Stoltzer also entered new musical territory with his Octo Tonorum Melodiae , eight 5-part instrumental movements in the four authentic and the four plagal church modes .

Works

Thomas Stoltzer's works have come down to us in 30 German collective prints (mainly 1532 to 1570) and in numerous manuscripts.

expenditure

  • Newe deudsche ecclesiastical singing (1544) , Ed. J. Wolf, Monuments of German Music Art , 1908
  • The German Society Song in Austria from 1480–1550 , Ed. L. Nowak, Monuments of Tonkunst in Austria , 1930
  • Thomas Stoltzer: Complete Latin Hymns and Psalms , Ed. H. Albrecht and Otto Gombosi , Monuments of German Music Art , 1931
  • Thomas Stoltzer: Selected Works , Part 1, Ed. H. Albrecht, The Legacy of German Music , 1942; Parts 2 and 3 Ed. L. Hoffmann inheritance law, 1969, 1983
  • Georg Forster : Fresh teutsche Liedlein (1539–1556) Ed. K. Gudewill, The Legacy of German Music , 1942
  • Georg Rhau : Sacrorum hymnorum liber primus , Ed. R. Gerber, The Legacy of German Music , 1942–43
  • Georg Rhau : Vesperarum precum officia , Ed. Hans Joachim Moser , music prints from the years 1538 to 1545 in a practical new edition , 1960

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The music in past and present (MGG), Volume 15, Bärenreiter Verlag Kassel and Basel 2006, ISBN 3-7618-1135-7
  2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 8: Štich - Zylis-Gara. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1982, ISBN 3-451-18058-8 .
  3. ↑ Horst Seeger : Musiklexikon Personen AZ / Deutscher Verlag für Musik Leipzig (1981), page 770
  4. ↑ Thomas Stoltzer: Leben u. Create / Lothar Hoffmann inheritance law from Music in Old and New Europe : A series of publications / ed. v. Walter Wiora (1964)
  5. ↑ Thomas Stoltzer on Klassika.info
personal data
SURNAME Stoltzer, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stolczer, Thomas; Stolcer, Thomas; Scholczer, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1475
PLACE OF BIRTH Schweidnitz , Duchy of Schweidnitz
DATE OF DEATH March 1526
Place of death Znojmo