Albert, Heinrich

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Albert, Heinrich

Albert, Heinrich, German organist and composer; b. Lobenstein, Saxony, July 8, 1604; d. Königsberg, Oct. 6, 1651. He went to Dresden in 1622, where he worked with his cousin Heinrich Schütz. He then went to Leipzig to study law at the Univ. (1623–26), and also came into contact with Schein. In 1627 he went to Warsaw with a peace delegation, but was seized as a prisoner of war by the Swedes. Upon his release in 1628, he settled in Königsberg. After a period as an authority on fortifications, he took up a career in music in 1630. In 1631 he became the Cathedral organist. His most important works are the 8 vols, of Arien (Königsberg, 1638-50), which contain some 170 brief sacred and secular songs, some of them to Albert’s own texts. About 25 of them became well known as chorales. His prefaces contain valuable guidance on performance practice, including continuo playing. He also publ. the cantata Musikalische Kürbs-Hütte (1645), a cycle of 12 terzets to his own texts.

Bibliography

G. Kraft, ed., Festschrift zur Ehrung von H A. (1604–1651) (Weimar, 1954).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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