Johannes Eccard (1553–1611) 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 ...

and

kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

. He was an early principal conductor at the Berlin court chapel.

Biography

Eccard was born at

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a city in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen. Mühlhausen was first mentioned in 967 and bec ...

, in present-day Thuringia, Germany. At the age of eighteen he went to Munich, where he became the pupil of Orlando Lasso. In his company, Eccard is said to have visited Paris, but in 1574, he was again at Mühlhausen, where he resided for four years. There he, together with Joachim a Burck, edited some works of his first master, a collection of sacred songs, called ''Crepundia sacra Helmboldi'' (1577). Soon afterwards he obtained an appointment as musician in the house of Jacob Fugger, the Augsburg banker. In 1583 he became assistant conductor, and in 1599 conductor at Königsberg to Georg Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Anspach, the administrator of the Duchy of Prussia. In 1608 he was called by Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg as principal conductor in Berlin, but this post he held only for three years, owing to his death at Königsberg in 1611. Eccard's works consist exclusively of vocal compositions, such as songs, sacred

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 and chorales for four or five, and sometimes for seven, eight, or even nine voices. Their

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

structure is a marvel of art and still garners the admiration of musicians. At the same time his works are filled with a spirit of true religious feeling. Before the First World War, his setting of Martin Luther's words " Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God") was regarded by the Germans as their representative national hymn. Eccard and his school are inseparably connected with the history of the Protestant Reformation. Of Eccard's songs a great many collections are extant such as those published in ''Der Evangelische Kirchengesang'' (1843) by

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

Karl Georg August Vivigens von Winterfeld.

Works

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 ...

on "

Nun liebe Seel, nun ist es Zeit "", alternatively written "" (Now, dear soul, now it is time), is a Lutheran hymn for Epiphany, in five stanzas of six lines each, by Georg Weissel. It was first printed in 1642, set as a motet by Johannes Eccard. A version with an additional stan ...

" *''Nun schürz dich, Gretlein, schürz dich'' *''

Übers Gebirg Maria geht ' (Over the mountains Mary goes) is a sacred motet by the Renaissance composer and musician Johannes Eccard, who wrote it on a German text by Ludwig Helmbold in two stanzas. The first stanza is a rephrasing of the biblical story of the visit of M ...

'', five-part motet *''Christ ist erstanden'' *''Es rühmt die Heilige Schrift'' (1591) *''Nachdem die Sonn beschlossen'' (1600) *''Maria wallt zum Heiligtum'' (also sung in English: "When to the temple Mary went")

References

Citations

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eccard, Johannes People from Mühlhausen Renaissance composers 1553 births 1611 deaths Music directors of the Berlin State Opera Pupils of Orlande de Lassus Male classical composers