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Introduction
Vernacular-language Christian hymnody in central Europe is characterised by a rich history of spiritual singing in church communities, especially since the 16th century, during which period the church hymn emerged as a fundamental characteristic of reformed Christianity. But the beginnings of this history go back to the Middle Ages. From then onwards, and not only as a reaction to reformed practice, the vernacular church hymn formed an important part of church musical and...
CORNER, David Gregor. b. Hirschberg, Silesia (now Jelenia Góra, Poland), ca. 1587; d. Vienna, Austria, 9 January 1648. Corner studied at the Universities of Prague and Graz, and later became a Doctor of Theology at the University of Vienna. He became a Catholic priest in 1614, and served at Rötz before entering the monastery at Gottweig as a novice in 1628. In 1636 he became abbot of the monastery, but his period of office lasted only a short time because he was nominated as Rektor of the...
KREMSER, Eduard. b. Vienna, Austria 10 April 1838; d. Vienna 26 November 1914. A distinguished conductor, arranger, editor/compiler of folk and popular music and music critic, Kremser attended business school, studied piano and music theory, and sang in amateur choral societies in Vienna. In 1861 he joined the famed Männergesangverein as rehearsal accompanist and member of the solo quartet. In 1869 he was appointed one of several co-directors: for example, Rudolph Weinwurm (1835-1911)], was...
Ein Kindlein in der Wiegen. German traditional carol, 16th century or earlier. This carol is found in Geistliche Nachtigall der Catholischen Teutschen, the 1649 edition of the major Catholic collection, Groß Catolisch Gesangbuch, by David Gregor Corner*. From this text is taken the translation in The Oxford Book of Carols (1928) by Robert Graves (1895-1985) beginning 'He smiles within his cradle'. In OBC the provenance is given as 'Austrian, 1649'. But as The New Oxford Book of Carols points...
WERNER, Eric. b. Lundenburg, (Břeclav), 40 miles north of Vienna, Austria-Hungary, 1 August 1901; d. New York City, 28 July 1988. Werner was a distinguished and controversial musicologist, ethnomusicologist, and liturgiologist whose life-long goal, as stated in his The Sacred Bridge (Werner 2:x-xii), was to correct the errors and misrepresentations of European scholars, especially of those who were anti-Semitic. Werner's parents (his father was a scholar of Greek) nurtured him in classical...
GRUBER, Franz Xaver. b. Unterweizburg, near Hochburg, 25 November 1787; d. Hallein, 7 June 1863. The son of a weaver, Gruber became a typical Austrian cantor/schoolmaster, holding teaching and church positions in villages near Salzburg, including Arnsdorf from 1807, Oberndorf from 1816 and Hallein from 1835, where he remained until his death. His extensive output (church music and some recreational secular music, some now lost) has mostly remained unpublished and almost entirely unknown, with...
HAYDN, (Franz) Joseph. b. Rohrau, Lower Austria, 31 March 1732; d. Gumpendorf, near Vienna, 31 May 1809. He and his brother Michael Haydn* grew up in the environment of the late Austrian Baroque period — he was a chorister at St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna and later enjoyed a long career as a composer, initially under patronage (notably with Nicholas of Esterházy between 1761 and 1790) but later, able to earn his living without aristocratic support, he was a free artist who was lionised in...
MOHR, Joseph. b. Salzburg, Austria, 11 December 1792; d. Wagrein, near St Johann, 4 December 1848. He was a chorister in the cathedral choir at Salzburg. He was ordained into the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1815. Most of his life was spent in parishes near Salzburg, but from 1817 to 1819 he was assistant priest at Oberndorf in Bavaria. His next appointments were as assistant at Ramsau and Laufen; as co-adjutor at Kuchl, Golling, Vigann, Adnet and Authering; as vicar-substitute at Hof and at...
FERSCHL, Maria. b. Melk, Austria, 18 March 1895; d. Saulgau, Baden-Württemberg, 10 April 1982. She was the daughter of a superintendent in the imperial and royal post office of Austria. She was educated at High School, and a Teachers' Training College in Vienna. She taught German, history and singing in a technical school. From 1925 onwards she was involved with the movement for the development of Catholic liturgy at Klosterneuburg, near Vienna, writing Kreuzweg der Klosterneuburger...
HAYDN, (Johann) Michael. b. Rohrau, Lower Austria, 1737 (baptized 14 September); d. Salzburg, 10 August 1806. Born at Rohrau, like his elder brother (Franz) Joseph Haydn*, he was a chorister at St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. Accounts of his life state that in 1757 he became Kapellmeister at Grosswardein (now Oradea, Roumania) to the bishop Count Firmian, though there is no evidence of his being there until 1760. There he composed 15 symphonies and 14 masses among other works. In 1763 he took...
Monk of Salzburg. fl. late 14th century. Part of a literary circle, some of whose members are referred to in his songs, the monk of Salzburg was associated with the hedonistic court of Pilgrim II von Puchheim, archbishop of Salzburg from 1365 to 1396. 57 secular songs and 49 sacred songs survive, some of which are translations of Latin monophonic and polyphonic hymns and sequences* into German. The monk's songs were widely transmitted for over a century; they are found in almost 100...
Stille Nacht! heilige Nacht! Joseph Mohr* (1792-1848).
The words of this carol were written in 1816 by Joseph Mohr, and set to music in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber*, organist of Arnsdorf. It was first sung on Christmas Eve 1818 in the nearby church at Oberndorf (where Mohr was assistant) to a guitar accompaniment (according to tradition because the organ had broken down).
It became popular as a 'folk carol' in the Tirol in the 1820s. In 1827, the Renner family, a group of folksingers, toured the...
Wir sagen euch an den lieben Advent. Maria Ferschl* (1895-1982).
This children's hymn is based on the four Sundays in Advent. Each stanza has a description of the candle-lighting ceremony in Advent worship: 'Sehet die erste…zweite…dritte…vierte Kerze brennt!' Each stanza has an allusion to a text: St. 1 to Matthew 3: 3, 'Machet dem Herrn den Weg bereit'; St 2 to Romans 15: 7, 'So nehmet euch eins um das andere an,/ wie auch der Herr an uns getan'; St 3 to John 1: 5, 'Nun tragt eurer Güte hellen...