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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1756 - 1791 Person Name: Mozart Arr. from of "BELMONT" in The Hymnal Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Austria 1756-1791. Born at Salzburg, Austria, the son of Leopold Mozart, a minor composer and violinist, and youngest of seven children, he showed amazing ability on violin and keyboard from earliest childhood, even starting to compose music at age four when his father would play a piece and Mozart would play it exactly as did his father. At five, he composed some of his own music, which he played to his father, who wrote it down. When Mozart was eight, he wrote his first symphony, probably transcribed by his father. In his early years his father was his only teacher, teaching his children languages and academic subjects, as well as fundamentals of their strict Catholic faith. Some of his early compositions came as a surprise to his father, who eventually gave up composing himself when he realized how talented his son was. His family made several European journeys and he and his sister, Nanneri, performed as child prodigies, at the court of Prince-elector Maximillian II of Bavaria in Munich, and at the Imperial Courts in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour followed, for 3.5 years, taking the family to courts in Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, Dover, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Mechelen, and again to Paris, and back home via Zurich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. During these trips Mozart met many musicians, acquainting himself with the works of other composers. He met Johann Christian Bach in London in 1764. Family trips were challenging, and travel conditions were primitive. They had to wait for invitations and reimbursements from nobility, and they endured long, near-fatal illnesses far from home. First Leopold (1764) got sick, then both children (1765). They traveled again to Vienna in 1767 and stayed there over a year. After a year back in Salzburg, Leopold and Wolfgang went to Italy (1769-1771), Leopold wished to display his son’s abilities as a performer and maturing composer. In Bologna, Italy, Wolfgang was accepted as a member of the famous Academia Filamonica. In Rome he heard Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere twice in performance. Back in the Sistine Chapel, Mozart wrote the whole performance out from memory, thus producing the first unauthorized copy of this closely guarded property of the Vatican. In the next few years Mozart wrote several operas performed with success in Italy, but his father’s hopes of securing a professional appointment for his son were not realized. At age 17 he was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. After returning to Salzburg, Mozart was employed as a court musician by the ruler of Salzburg, Prince Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. This gave Mozart ample opportunity to develop relationships with other musicians and his admirers, resulting in his development of new symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, masses, serenades, and some minor operas. In 1775 he wrote his only violin concertos, five in all. Again, he was discontent with work in Salzburg and traveled to find more opportunity to write operas. He and his father again visited Munich and Vienna, but neither visit was successful with the exception of his opera ‘La finta giardiniera’ in Munich. In 1777 he resigned his Salzburg position and went to Augsburg, Mannheim, Paris, and Munich again. In Mannheim he met and fell in love with Aloysia Weber, one of four daughters of a musical family. He could find no real employment there and left for Paris in 1778. He might have had a position as organist at Versailles, but he was not interested in that. He fell into debt and started pawning valuables. During these events his mother died. Meanwhile his father was still trying to find him a position in Salzburg. After checking out several other European cities and Munich, he again encountered Aloysia, but she was no longer interested in him, so he returned to Salzburg, having written another symphony, concerto, and piano sonata, and took the new appointment his father had found. However, he was still in discontent. Visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He wrote another opera, ‘Idomeneo’, in 1781, that was successful in Munich. Two months later he was summoned to Vienna, where his employer, Archbishop Colloredo, wanted him around due to his notoriety. Mozart wished to meet the emperor and perform for him, and finally got that opportunity. It resulted in a part-time position and substantial commissions. Colloredo became a nemesis to Mozart’s career, finally releasing Mozart from his employ with a literal kick in the pants, much against his father’s wishes. However, he was now independent. Mozart then decided to settle in Vienna as a free lance performer and composer. He lived with the Fridolin Weber family, who had moved from Mannheim to Vienna. Fridolin, the father, had died, and they were taking in lodgers to make ends meet. His career there went well, and he performed as a pianist before the Emperor, establishing himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna. He wrote another opera in 1782, again achieving success. Mozart had now become a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period and was known throughout Europe. Aloysia was now married to actor, Joseph Lange, and Mozart’s interest shifted to her sister, Constanze. In 1782 he married Constanze Weber Mozart Nissen. The marriage started out with a brief separation, and there was a problem getting Mozart’s father’s permission, which finally came. They had six children, but only two survived infancy: Carl and Franz. He lived in Vienna and achieved some notoriety, composing many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas. In 1782-83 he became intimately acquainted with Johann Sebastian Bach and George Friederic Handel, as his friend, Gottfried van Swieten, owned many manuscripts of the Baroque masters, which Mozart studied intently. He altered his style of composition as a result. That year Mozart and his wife visited his father and sister, and he composed a liturgical piece, a Mass, with a singing part for his wife. He also met Joseph Hadyn in Vienna in 1784 and they became friends. They even played together in a string quartet from time to time. Mozart wrote six quartets dedicated to Hadyn. In 1785 Hadyn told Leopold Mozart, “Your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste, and what is more, the greatest skill in composition”. Over the next several years Mozart booked several piano concertos in various places as a sole performer to delighted audiences, making substantial remuneration for his work. He and his wife then adopted a more luxurious lifestyle. They moved to an expensive apartment and he bought a fine fortepiano and billiard table. They sent their son, Karl, to an expensive boarding school and also kept servants. In 1784 Mozart became a Freemason and even composed Masonic music. Over the next several years he did little operatic writing and focused on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos. He again began operatic collaboration in 1785, creating ‘The marriage of Figaro’, then ‘Don Giovanni’ in 1787. That year his father died. Also that year he obtained a steady post under Emperor Joseph II as his chamber composer. This was part-time employment that was important when hard times arrived. However, Joseph aimed at keeping Mozart from leaving Vienna for better work. The Austrio-Turkish War made life difficult for musicians, and his aristocracy support had declined. He moved to save on expenses, but that did not help much, and he was reduced to borrowing funds from his friends, and pleading for loans. During this period he produced his last three symphonies. In 1789 he then set up on a journey to Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin hoping to improve his fortunes. In 1790 he was highly productive, producing concertos, an opera, ‘The magic flute’, a series of string quintets, a motet, and an (unfinished) Requiem. Finances began to improve and he begin paying back his debts. Public reaction to his works also brought him great satisfaction. In 1791, while in Prague for the premiere of his opera, ‘La clemenza di Tito’, he fell ill. He continued professional functions for a short time, but had to go home and be nursed by his wife over the next couple of months. He died at Vienna, Austria, at the age of 35, a small thin man with undistinguishing characteristics. He was buried in a modest grave, having had a small funeral. Beethoven composed his early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Hadyn wrote “posterity will not see such a talent (as Mozart) again in 100 years”. 600+ works. Side note: Mozart enjoyed billiards, dancing, and had a pet canary, a starling, a dog, and a horse for recreational riding. He liked off-color humor. He wore elegant clothing when performing and had a modest tenor voice. John Perry

William Gardiner

1770 - 1853 Person Name: W. Gardiner, 1770-1853 Arranger of "BELMONT" in The Hymnal William Gardiner (b. Leicester, England, 1770; d. Leicester, 1853) The son of an English hosiery manufacturer, Gardiner took up his father's trade in addition to writing about music, composing, and editing. Having met Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven on his business travels, Gardiner then proceeded to help popularize their compositions, especially Beethoven's, in England. He recorded his memories of various musicians in Music and Friends (3 volumes, 1838-1853). In the first two volumes of Sacred Melodies (1812, 1815), Gardiner turned melodies from composers such as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven into hymn tunes in an attempt to rejuvenate the singing of psalms. His work became an important model for American editors like Lowell Mason (see Mason's Boston Handel and Haydn Collection, 1822), and later hymnbook editors often turned to Gardiner as a source of tunes derived from classical music. Bert Polman

Johann Crüger

1598 - 1662 Composer of "GRÄFENBERG" in The Cyber Hymnal Johann Crüger (b. Grossbriesen, near Guben, Prussia, Germany, 1598; d. Berlin, Germany, 1662) Crüger attended the Jesuit College at Olmutz and the Poets' School in Regensburg, and later studied theology at the University of Wittenberg. He moved to Berlin in 1615, where he published music for the rest of his life. In 1622 he became the Lutheran cantor at the St. Nicholas Church and a teacher for the Gray Cloister. He wrote music instruction manuals, the best known of which is Synopsis musica (1630), and tirelessly promoted congregational singing. With his tunes he often included elaborate accompaniment for various instruments. Crüger's hymn collection, Neues vollkomliches Gesangbuch (1640), was one of the first hymnals to include figured bass accompaniment (musical shorthand) with the chorale melody rather than full harmonization written out. It included eighteen of Crüger's tunes. His next publication, Praxis Pietatis Melica (1644), is considered one of the most important collections of German hymnody in the seventeenth century. It was reprinted forty-four times in the following hundred years. Another of his publications, Geistliche Kirchen Melodien (1649), is a collection arranged for four voices, two descanting instruments, and keyboard and bass accompaniment. Crüger also published a complete psalter, Psalmodia sacra (1657), which included the Lobwasser translation set to all the Genevan tunes. Bert Polman =============================== Crüger, Johann, was born April 9, 1598, at Gross-Breese, near Guben, Brandenburg. After passing through the schools at Guben, Sorau and Breslau, the Jesuit College at Olmütz, and the Poets' school at Regensburg, he made a tour in Austria, and, in 1615, settled at Berlin. There, save for a short residence at the University of Wittenberg, in 1620, he employed himself as a private tutor till 1622. In 1622 he was appointed Cantor of St. Nicholas's Church at Berlin, and also one of the masters of the Greyfriars Gymnasium. He died at Berlin Feb. 23, 1662. Crüger wrote no hymns, although in some American hymnals he appears as "Johann Krüger, 1610,” as the author of the supposed original of C. Wesley's "Hearts of stone relent, relent" (q.v.). He was one of the most distinguished musicians of his time. Of his hymn tunes, which are generally noble and simple in style, some 20 are still in use, the best known probably being that to "Nun danket alle Gott" (q.v.), which is set to No. 379 in Hymns Ancient & Modern, ed. 1875. His claim to notice in this work is as editor and contributor to several of the most important German hymnological works of the 16th century, and these are most conveniently treated of under his name. (The principal authorities on his works are Dr. J. F. Bachmann's Zur Geschichte der Berliner Gesangbücher 1857; his Vortrag on P. Gerhard, 1863; and his edition of Gerhardt's Geistliche Lieder, 1866. Besides these there are the notices in Bode, and in R. Eitner's Monatshefte für Musik-Geschichte, 1873 and 1880). These works are:— 1. Newes vollkömmliches Gesangbuch, Augspur-gischer Confession, &c, Berlin, 1640 [Library of St. Nicholas's Church, Berlin], with 248 hymns, very few being published for the first time. 2. Praxis pietatis melica. Das ist: Ubung der Gottseligkeit in Christlichen und trostreichen Gesängen. The history of this, the most important work of the century, is still obscure. The 1st edition has been variously dated 1640 and 1644, while Crüger, in the preface to No. 3, says that the 3rd edition appeared in 1648. A considerable correspondence with German collectors and librarians has failed to bring to light any of the editions which Koch, iv. 102, 103, quotes as 1644, 1647, 1649, 1650, 1651, 1652, 1653. The imperfect edition noted below as probably that of 1648 is the earliest Berlin edition we have been able to find. The imperfect edition, probably ix. of 1659, formerly in the hands of Dr. Schneider of Schleswig [see Mützell, 1858, No. 264] was inaccessible. The earliest perfect Berlin edition we have found is 1653. The edition printed at Frankfurt in 1656 by Caspar Röteln was probably a reprint of a Berlin edition, c. 1656. The editions printed at Frankfurt-am-Main by B. C. Wust (of which the 1666 is in the preface described as the 3rd) are in considerable measure independent works. In the forty-five Berlin and over a dozen Frankfurt editions of this work many of the hymns of P. Gerhardt, J. Franck, P. J. Spener, and others, appear for the first time, and therein also appear many of the best melodies of the period. 3. Geistliche Kirchen-Melodien, &c, Leipzig, 1649 [Library of St. Katherine's Church, Brandenburg]. This contains the first stanzas only of 161 hymns, with music in four vocal and two instrumental parts. It is the earliest source of the first stanzas of various hymns by Gerhardt, Franck, &c. 4. D. M. Luther's und anderer vornehmen geisU reichen und gelehrten Manner Geistliche Lieder und Psalmen, &c, Berlin, 1653 [Hamburg Town Library], with 375 hymns. This was edited by C. Runge, the publisher, and to it Crüger contributed some 37 melodies. It was prepared at the request of Luise Henriette (q.v.), as a book for the joint use of the Lutherans and the Re¬formed, and is the earliest source of the hymns ascribed to her, and of the complete versions of many hymns by Gerhardt and Franck. 5. Psalmodia Sacra, &c, Berlin, 1658 [Royal Library, Berlin]. The first section of this work is in an ed. of A. Lobwasser's German Psalter; the second, with a similar title to No. 4, and the date 1657, is practically a recast of No. 4,146 of those in 1653 being omitted, and the rest of the 319 hymns principally taken from the Praxis of 1656 and the hymn-books of the Bohemian Brethren. New eds. appeared in 1676, 1700, 1704, 1711, and 1736. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] -- Excerpt from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ======================= Crüger, Johann, p. 271, ii. Dr. J. Zahn, now of Neuendettelsau, in Bavaria, has recently acquired a copy of the 5th ed., Berlin, 1653, of the Praxis. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Thomas Tallis

1505 - 1585 Person Name: Thomas Tallis, 1515-1585 Composer of "TALLIS'S ORDINAL" in The Hymnary of the United Church of Canada Thomas Tallis (b. Leicestershire [?], England, c. 1505; d. Greenwich, Kent, England 1585) was one of the few Tudor musicians who served during the reigns of Henry VIII: Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth I and managed to remain in the good favor of both Catholic and Protestant monarchs. He was court organist and composer from 1543 until his death, composing music for Roman Catholic masses and Anglican liturgies (depending on the monarch). With William Byrd, Tallis also enjoyed a long-term monopoly on music printing. Prior to his court connections Tallis had served at Waltham Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral. He composed mostly church music, including Latin motets, English anthems, settings of the liturgy, magnificats, and two sets of lamentations. His most extensive contrapuntal work was the choral composition, "Spem in alium," a work in forty parts for eight five-voice choirs. He also provided nine modal psalm tunes for Matthew Parker's Psalter (c. 1561). Bert Polman

Richard Redhead

1820 - 1901 Person Name: R. Redhead (1820-1901) Composer of "METZLER'S REDHEAD" in A Missionary Hymn Book Richard Redhead (b. Harrow, Middlesex, England, 1820; d. Hellingley, Sussex, England, 1901) was a chorister at Magdalen College, Oxford. At age nineteen he was invited to become organist at Margaret Chapel (later All Saints Church), London. Greatly influencing the musical tradition of the church, he remained in that position for twenty-five years as organist and an excellent trainer of the boys' choirs. Redhead and the church's rector, Frederick Oakeley, were strongly committed to the Oxford Movement, which favored the introduction of Roman elements into Anglican worship. Together they produced the first Anglican plainsong psalter, Laudes Diurnae (1843). Redhead spent the latter part of his career as organist at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Paddington (1864-1894). Bert Polman

Alexander Robert Reinagle

1799 - 1877 Person Name: Alexander R. Reinagle Composer of "ST. PETER" in The Hymnbook Alexander Robert Reinagle United Kingdom 1799-1877. Born at Brighton, Sussex, England, gf Austrian descent, he came from a family of musicians, studying music with his father (a cellist), then with Raynor Taylor in Edinburgh, Scotland. Reinagle became a well-known organ teacher. He became organist at St Peter’s Church, Oxford (1823-1853). He was also a theatre musician. He wrote Teaching manuals for stringed instruments as well. He also compiled books of hymn tunes, one in 1830: “Psalm tunes for the voice and the pianoforte”, the other in 1840: “A collection of Psalm and hymn tunes”. He also composed waltzes. In 1846 he married Caroline Orger, a pianist, composer, and writer in her own right. No information found regarding children. In the 1860s he was active in Oxford music-making and worked with organist, John Stainer, then organist at Magdalen College. Reinagle also composed a piano sonata and some church music. At retirement he moved to Kidlington, Oxfordshire, England. He died at Kidlington. John Perry

Orlando Gibbons

1583 - 1625 Person Name: O. Gibbons, 1583-1625 Composer of "SONG 67" in The Book of Common Praise Orlando Gibbons (baptised 25 December 1583 – 5 June 1625) was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods. He was a leading composer in the England of his day. Gibbons was born in Cambridge and christened at Oxford the same year – thus appearing in Oxford church records. Between 1596 and 1598 he sang in the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, where his brother Edward Gibbons (1568–1650), eldest of the four sons of William Gibbons, was master of the choristers. The second brother Ellis Gibbons (1573–1603) was also a promising composer, but died young. Orlando entered the university in 1598 and achieved the degree of Bachelor of Music in 1606. James I appointed him a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, where he served as an organist from at least 1615 until his death. In 1623 he became senior organist at the Chapel Royal, with Thomas Tomkins as junior organist. He also held positions as keyboard player in the privy chamber of the court of Prince Charles (later King Charles I), and organist at Westminster Abbey. He died at age 41 in Canterbury of apoplexy, and a monument to him was built in Canterbury Cathedral. A suspicion immediately arose that Gibbons had died of the plague, which was rife in England that year. Two physicians who had been present at his death were ordered to make a report, and performed an autopsy, the account of which survives in The National Archives: We whose names are here underwritten: having been called to give our counsels to Mr. Orlando Gibbons; in the time of his late and sudden sickness, which we found in the beginning lethargical, or a profound sleep; out of which, we could never recover him, neither by inward nor outward medicines, & then instantly he fell in most strong, & sharp convulsions; which did wring his mouth up to his ears, & his eyes were distorted, as though they would have been thrust out of his head & then suddenly he lost both speech, sight and hearing, & so grew apoplectical & lost the whole motion of every part of his body, & so died. Then here upon (his death being so sudden) rumours were cast out that he did die of the plague, whereupon we . . . caused his body to be searched by certain women that were sworn to deliver the truth, who did affirm that they never saw a fairer corpse. Yet notwithstanding we to give full satisfaction to all did cause the skull to be opened in our presence & we carefully viewed the body, which we found also to be very clean without any show or spot of any contagious matter. In the brain we found the whole & sole cause of his sickness namely a great admirable blackness & syderation in the outside of the brain. Within the brain (being opened) there did issue out abundance of water intermixed with blood & this we affirm to be the only cause of his sudden death. His death was a shock to peers and the suddenness of his passing drew comment more for the haste of his burial – and of its location at Canterbury rather than the body being returned to London. His wife, Elizabeth, died a little over a year later, aged in her mid-30s, leaving Orlando's eldest brother, Edward, to care for the children left orphans by this event. Of these children only the eldest son, Christopher Gibbons, went on to become a musician. One of the most versatile English composers of his time, Gibbons wrote a quantity of keyboard works, around thirty fantasias for viols, a number of madrigals (the best-known being "The Silver Swan"), and many popular verse anthems. His choral music is distinguished by his complete mastery of counterpoint, combined with his wonderful gift for melody. Perhaps his most well known verse anthem is This is the record of John, which sets an Advent text for solo countertenor or tenor, alternating with full chorus. The soloist is required to demonstrate considerable technical facility at points, and the work at once expresses the rhetorical force of the text, whilst never being demonstrative or bombastic. He also produced two major settings of Evensong, the Short Service and the Second Service. The former includes a beautifully expressive Nunc dimittis, while the latter is an extended composition, combining verse and full sections. Gibbons's full anthems include the expressive O Lord, in thy wrath, and the Ascension Day anthem O clap your hands together for eight voices. He contributed six pieces to the first printed collection of keyboard music in England, Parthenia (to which he was by far the youngest of the three contributors), published in about 1611. Gibbons's surviving keyboard output comprises some 45 pieces. The polyphonic fantasia and dance forms are the best represented genres. Gibbons's writing exhibits full mastery of three- and four-part counterpoint. Most of the fantasias are complex, multisectional pieces, treating multiple subjects imitatively. Gibbons's approach to melody in both fantasias and dances features a capability for almost limitless development of simple musical ideas, on display in works such as Pavane in D minor and Lord Salisbury's Pavan and Galliard. In the 20th century, the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould championed Gibbons's music, and named him as his favorite composer. Gould wrote of Gibbons's hymns and anthems: "ever since my teen-age years this music ... has moved me more deeply than any other sound experience I can think of." In one interview, Gould compared Gibbons to Beethoven and Webern: ...despite the requisite quota of scales and shakes in such half-hearted virtuoso vehicles as the Salisbury Galliard, one is never quite able to counter the impression of music of supreme beauty that lacks its ideal means of reproduction. Like Beethoven in his last quartets, or Webern at almost any time, Gibbons is an artist of such intractable commitment that, in the keyboard field, at least, his works work better in one's memory, or on paper, than they ever can through the intercession of a sounding-board. To this day, Gibbons's obit service is commemorated every year in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. --wikipedia.org

Jeremiah Clarke

1669 - 1707 Person Name: Jeremiah Clark (1669-1707) Composer of "BISHOPTHORPE (Clarke)" in Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal

David Grant

1833 - 1893 Arranger of "CRIMOND" in The Worshiping Church

H. D. Rawnsley

1851 - 1920 Person Name: Hardwicke D. Rawnsley Author of "Father, Whose Will Is Life and Good" in The Hymnbook Rawnsley, Hardwicke Drummond, M.A., son of the Rev. R. D. B. Rawnsley, M.A., sometime Prebendary of Lincoln, was born at Shiplake-on-Thames, Sept. 28,1850, and educated at Ball. Coll., Oxford, B.A. 1875, M.A. 1883; D. 1875, P. 1877; Curate of St. Barnabas, Bristol, 1875-77; Vicar of Low Wray, Lancashire, 1878-83, and Vicar of Crosthwaite since 1883. He became Rural Dean of Keswick 1883, Hon. Canon of Carlisle 1893, and Proctor in Convocation 1905. His publications include: Notes for the Nile, 1892; Literary Associations of the English Lakes, 1894; Memoir of Harvey Goodwin, Bishop of Carlisle, 1896; Sermons on the Logia, 1897, and various books of Poems and Sonnets. The best-known of his hymns are:— 1. Hark! I hear the trumpet sounding. [Mission Hymn for Children.] In the Ch. Missionary Hymn Book, 1899. 2. Lord God, our praise we give. [In Praise of Nature]. Contributed to the 1904 ed. of Hymns Ancient & Modern. 3. Now trumpets cease your sound. [Peace.] In Hymns of the Kingdom . . . for the use of the Christian Democracy. Norwich, 1903. 4. Saviour, Who didst healing give. [St. Luke.] Written at Crosthwaite Vicarage, Dec. 1, 1905, and included in The English Hymnal 1906. 5. Lord Jesu, Who at Lazarus' tomb. [Memorial of the Dead.] Written at Crosthwaite Vicarage, Dec. 2, 1905, for The English Hymnal, 1906. 6. Lord, Who gavest streams and fountains. [For a Dual School.] Written in 1898 at Keswick for the Holiday Association of the Home Readers' Union, and included in the Keswick School Hymn Book. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)