Person Results

Switch back to the old search page.Advanced Search

Showing 1 - 4 of 4Results Per Page: 10 20 50

Hans Leo Hassler

1564 - 1612 Person Name: Hans Leo Hassler, 1564-1612 Composer of "PASSION CHORALE" in Ambassador Hymnal Hans Leo Hassler Germany 1564-1612. Born at Nuremberg, Germany, he came from a family of famous musicians and received early education from his father. He then studied in Venice, Italy, with Andrea Gabrieli, uncle of Giovanni Gabrieli, his friend, with whom he composed a wedding motet. The uncle taught him to play the organ. He learned the polychoral style and took it back to Germany after Andrea Gabrieli's death. He served as organist and composer for Octavian Fugger, the princely art patron of Augsburg (1585-1601). He was a prolific composer but found his influence limited, as he was Protestant in a still heavily Catholic region. In 1602 he became director of town music and organist in the Frauenkirche in Nuremberg until 1608. He married Cordula Claus in 1604. He was finally court musician for the Elector of Saxony in Dresden, Germany, evenually becoming Kapellmeister (1608-1612). A Lutheran, he composed both for Roman Catholic liturgy and for Lutheran churches. He produced two volumns of motets, a famous collection of court songs, and a volume of simpler hymn settings. He published both secular and religious music, managing to compose much for the Catholic church that was also usable in Lutheran settings. He was also a consultant to organ builders. In 1596 he, with 53 other organists, had the opportunity to examine a new instrument with 59 stops at the Schlosskirche, Groningen. He was recognized for his expertise in organ design and often was called on to examine new instruments. He entered the world of mechanical instrument construction, developing a clockwork organ that was later sold to Emperor Rudolf II. He died of tuberculosis in Frankfurt, Germany. John Perry

F. Melius Christiansen

1871 - 1955 Person Name: F. Melius Christiansen, 1871-1955 Arranger of "PASSION CHORALE" in Ambassador Hymnal F. Melius Christiansen (April 1, 1871-June 1, 1955) was a Norwegian-born violinist and choral conductor in the Lutheran choral tradition. Fredrik Melius Christiansen, the son of a Norwegian factory worker, was born in Eidsvold, municipality in Akershus county, Norway and emigrated to the United States at the age of 17. He settled in Washburn, Wisconsin. He studied at Augsburg College. In 1897, he returned to Europe to study three years at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Leipzig, Germany. In 1901, Christiansen was recruited by St. Olaf College president John N. Kildahl. The St. Olaf Choir was founded as an outgrowth of the St. John's Lutheran Church Choir in Northfield. For the next 30 years, Christiansen led the St. Olaf Choir, striving for perfect intonation, blend, diction and phrasing. He was a skilled conductor, directing bands and choirs alike. He assumed direction of the St. Olaf Band in 1903, and took the ensemble on tour to Norway in 1906 to play for King Haakon VII, making it the first college music ensemble to conduct a tour abroad. Though his first love was the violin, he received international fame as founding director of the St. Olaf Choir of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, USA from 1912 to 1944. Christiansen was considered a pioneer in the art of a cappella (unaccompanied) choral music. Christiansen composed and arranged over 250 musical selections and his choral techniques were spread throughout the U.S. by St. Olaf graduates. The great Christiansen choral tradition is a recognized feature of American Lutheranism. Four of Dr. Christiansen's children survived to adulthood two of them adding their own legacy to the Christiansen tradition of choral music in America. --en.wikipedia.org/wiki/