Philipp Heinrich Erlebach (25 July 1657 – 17 April 1714) was a German Baroque composer, a prolific writer of church music and secular music. Much of his work is lost due to a fire.

Life

Erlebach was born in

Esens, Lower Saxony Esens is a municipality in the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the North Sea coast, approx. 14 km northwest of Wittmund, and 20 km northeast of Aurich. Rathaus_Esens.jpg, Esens townhall in wintertim ...

, the son of Johann Philipp Erlebach, a musician at the court of Count Ulrich II of

East Frisia East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...

(1605–1648), the principality where the younger Erlebach received his early musical training. Based on his musical abilities, Erlebach was lent to the court of Prince Albrecht Anton of

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small historic state in present-day Thuringia, Germany, with its capital at Rudolstadt. History Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was established in 1599 in the course of a resettlement of Schwarzburg dynasty lands. Since th ...

(1641–1710), count of the larger principality of

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

, in 1678. In 1681, he was appointed to the post of

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 ...

to the Thuringian Court, a position he held for 33 years, until his death, aged 56, in

Rudolstadt Rudolstadt is a town in the German federal state Thuringia, with the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north. The former capital of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the town is built along the River Saale inside a wide va ...

Works

Erlebach's compositions include orchestral and chamber music,

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

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, masses and

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

s. He was a prolific composer, but most of his works (over 1000 compositions), which had been acquired by the court from Erlebach's widow after his death, were destroyed in 1735 during a fire in Rudolstadt. This caused Erlebach's music to be almost completely forgotten. Only 70 compositions (about 7 percent of his working output) survived, some only in

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

form. Much of his posterity is dependent upon published editions of his works. About 90 of his

church cantata A church cantata or sacred cantata is a cantata intended to be performed during Christian liturgy. The genre was particularly popular in 18th-century Lutheran Germany, with many composers writing an extensive output: Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, ...

s are extant, such as '' Gelobet sei der Herr täglich'', out of a total of more than 400. The destroyed material also included 24 masses and at least six complete cycles of cantatas for the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

church year The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...

. Erlebach also composed secular vocal music and songs, included in a 1697 published collection titled ''Harmonische Freude musicalischer Freunde'' (Harmonic delight of musical friends),Digital Text of Book
/ref> which contains over 75 such pieces. From the more than 120 instrumental works Erlebach is known to have produced, only 13 pieces survive.

Surviving works

* ''VI Ouvertures begleitet mit … Airs nach französischer Art'', a 5, 6, 1693 * Six sonatas for violin, viola da gamba and continuo, 1694 * March from ''Musicalia bei dem Actu homagiali Mulhusino'' * ''Harmonische Freude musicalischer Freunde'', 1697, 1710 ** vol. 1: 50 arias ** vol. 2: 25 arias * ''Josephs neuer Kaiserthron'', serenade from ''Musicalia bei dem Actu homagiali Mulhusino'', 1705 * 19 other arias

References

External links

*
Sonatas
linnrecords.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Erlebach, Philipp Heinrich 1657 births 1714 deaths German Baroque composers East Frisians 18th-century classical composers German classical composers German male classical composers 18th-century German composers 18th-century German male musicians

Life

Works

Surviving works

References

Further reading

External links