Gottfried August Homilius (2 February 1714 – 2 June 1785) was a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, cantor and organist.Dennis Shrock ''Choral Repertoire'' 2009 -- Page 303 "1714–1785 Homilius was born near Dresden, where he was educated and where he served as substitute organist at the ..." He is considered one of the most important church composers of the generation following Bach's, and was the main representative of the '' empfindsamer'' style.

Life

Homilius was born in

Rosenthal Rosenthal is a German and Jewish surname meaning "rose valley". Notable people with the name include: A * Abe M. Rosenthal (1922–2006), ''New York Times'' editor and columnist *Albert Rosenthal (1863–1939), American portrait artist * Albert ...

, Saxony, the son of a Lutheran pastor, and was educated at the

Annenschule Saint Anna German High School (russian: Главное немецкое училище Святой Анны), usually known as Annenschule (russian: Анненшуле), was a school in Saint Petersburg, Russia founded in 1736 for children of the ...

in Dresden. He then studied law at Leipzig University and the organ under Johann Sebastian Bach. From 1742 he was organist at the Dresden Frauenkirche, and from 1755 until his death cantor at the

Kreuzkirche The Dresden Kreuzkirche (Church of the Holy Cross) is a Lutheran church in Dresden, Germany. It is the main church and seat of the ''Landesbischof'' of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony, and the largest church building in the Free State o ...

in Dresden with the associated responsibility of

music director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the d ...

at the

, the

Sophienkirche The Sophienkirche (Saint Sophia's Church) was a church in Dresden. It was located on the northeast corner of the Postplatz (post office square) in the old town before it was severely damaged in the Dresden bombing in 1945 and subsequently destr ...

, and the Frauenkirche. After the destruction of the Kreuzkirche during the Seven Years' War he worked mainly at the Frauenkirche.

Works

Homilius predominantly composed church music: more than 10 passions (one printed in 1775; his St. Matthew Passion, particularly outstanding in the preclassical style of

C.P.E. Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...

and an extremely worthy successor of J.S. Bach's best-known work of the same name, has been recorded on CD), an oratorio for Christmas (1777) and one for Easter, over 60

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

s, more than 150

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

s (six arias from these appeared in 1786), chorales, preludes, and choral works. He composed also organ music: 36 Chorale preludes for organ. His students included eminent composer

Daniel Gottlob Türk Daniel Gottlob Türk (10 August 1750 – 26 August 1813) was a German composer, organist, and music professor of the Classical period. Biography Born in Claußnitz, Saxony, Türk studied organ under his father and later under Johann Adam Hille ...

as well as Johann Adam Hiller. His vocal compositions enjoyed great popularity through the 19th century, as witnessed by the large number of copies still extant. A complete worklist and edition is in preparation at Carus Verlag; the Homilius-Werkverzeichnis numbers (HoWV) follow the dissertation of Karl Feld and the new edition of

Uwe Wolf Uwe Wolf (born 10 August 1967 in Neustadt an der Weinstraße) is a German football coach and former professional player. Honours Necaxa * Primera División de México The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, ...

Passions and oratorios

* HoWV 1.2 Passionskantate "

Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld "Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld" (A Lambkin goes and bears the guilt) is a Lutheran Passion hymn in German by Paul Gerhardt. The hymn text was first published in Johann Crüger's ''Praxis Pietatis Melica'', starting from the lost 1647 ...

"/"Siehe das ist Gottes Lamm..."/Mit väterlicher Stimme" * HoWV 1.3 Matthäuspassion "Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld"/"Und es begab sich"/"Erfüllt mit göttlich ernsten Freuden" * HoWV 1.4 Johannespassion "Der Fromme stirbt" * HoWV 1.5 Lukaspassion "Du starker Keltertreter" * HoWV 1.10 Markuspassion * Weihnachtsoratorium. "Die Freude der Hirten"

Organ music

* Gottfried August Homilius: Choralvorspiele für Orgel / herausgegeben von Christoph Albrecht., Leipzig : Breitkopf & Härtel, 1988.

References

*Hans John, "Homilius, Gottfried August," Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 13 December 2006
(subscription access)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Homilius, Gottfried August 1714 births 1785 deaths 18th-century classical composers 18th-century male musicians 18th-century keyboardists 18th-century German people Classical composers of church music German classical composers German male classical composers German classical organists German male organists German Lutherans Organists and composers in the North German tradition People from the Electorate of Saxony People from Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge Pupils of Johann Sebastian Bach Male classical organists