Dietrich or Dieterich, Sixtus

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Dietrich or Dieterich, Sixtus

Dietrich Or Dieterich, Sixtus, important German composer; b. Augsburg, c. 1493; d. St. Gallen, Switzerland, Oct. 21, 1548. He was a chorister in Constance (1504–08), then studied in Freiburg. After returning to Constance (1517), he became informator choralium at the Cathedral chapter; was made altar prebend and then became a priest (1522), remaining there after the Catholic clergy left as a result of the Reformation (1527). He was also a guest lecturer at the Univ. of Wittenberg (1540–41). He was a significant composer of early Protestant sacred music.

Works

Epicedion Thomae Sporeri (Strasbourg, 1534); Magnificat octo tonorum…liber primus (Strasbourg, 1535); Novum ac insigne opus musicum 36 antiphonarum (Wittenberg, 1541; ed. byW. Buszin, Kassel and St. Louis, 1964); Novum opus musicum tres tomos [122] sacrorum hymnorum (Wittenberg, 1545; ed. by H. Zenck and W Gurlitt in Das Erbe Deutscher Musik, 1st series, XXIII, 1942–60); Laudate Dominum for 4 Voices (Augsburg, 1547); various other works publ. in contemporary collections.

Bibliography

H. Zenck, S. D.: Ein Beitrag zur Musik und Musikanschauung im Zeitalter der Reformation (Leipzig, 1928); A. Grauer, The Vocal Style of S. D. and Johann Eccard and Their Contributions to Lutheran Church Music (diss., Univ. of Rochester, 1960).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire