Alberich Mazak, also Alberik Mazák (1609 – 9 May 1661) was a 17th-century

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n composer.

Early life

Mazak was born in Ratibor to a Czech family. After studying

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

and philosophy, he entered Heiligenkreuz Abbey in 1631 and was ordained a priest in 1633.

Works, editions and recordings

Mazak created more than 300 compositions. He wrote masses,

litanies Litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Judaic worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions. The word comes through Latin '' litania'' from Ancient Greek λιτανεία (''li ...

, offertories,

antiphon An antiphon ( Greek ἀντίφωνον, ἀντί "opposite" and φωνή "voice") is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. The texts of antiphons are the Psalms. Their form was favored by St Ambrose and they feature prominentl ...

psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

s and sacred cantatas. The instruments he used most were the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

, the

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, the bassoon, the

viola da gamba The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch ...

, the cornet and the

sackbut The term sackbut refers to the early forms of the trombone commonly used during the Renaissance and Baroque eras. A sackbut has the characteristic telescopic slide of a trombone, used to vary the length of the tube to change pitch, but is di ...

. His compositions, predominantly motets, collected under the title ''Cultus harmonicus'', were published by him in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Opus I in 1649, Opus Minus (II) in 1650 and Opus Maius (III) in 1653. The last one is missing today. *''Baroque Vespers at Stift Heiligenkreuz'' - Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, Wieninger

Oehms Classics Oehms Classics is a German classical music label founded in 2003 by Dieter Oehms (born in Manderscheid, Bernkastel-Wittlich in 1941), a former manager for 35 years with DGG/Polygram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and ...

C826 *''De Profundis'' re Bassi Carpe Diem CD-16274 A baroque lute built in 1631, which had been played at Mazak's

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform v ...

, was used in the recording of Wolf Erichson's ''Stift Heiligenkreuz Geistliche Musik'' (Sacred Music from Holy Cross Monastery), directed by Niederaltaicher Scholaren and Dr.

Konrad Ruhland Konrad Ruhland (19 February 1932 – 14 March 2010) was a German musicologist. He was born in Landau am Inn (Germany/Bavaria) He studied history, medieval Latin, theology, and liturgical history which helped him to gain extensive background ...

and published by

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainme ...

under the SEON label (1970–1980).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazak, Alberich 1609 births 1661 deaths 17th-century classical composers Austrian classical composers Austrian Baroque composers Czech classical composers Czech male classical composers Austrian male classical composers People from Racibórz Sackbut players 17th-century male musicians