Dressier, Gallus

Dressier, Gallus, important German composer and music theorist; b. Nebra, Thuringia, Oct. 16,1533; d. Zerbst, Anhalt, c. 1584. He entered the Jena Academy (later Univ.) in 1557, and the following year he was made Kantor at the Magdeburg grammar school. In 1570 he received his master’s degree at the Univ. of Wittenberg, then went to Zerbst as a deacon (1575). He is of historical significance for his contributions to the development of the German-language motet and to modal theory.

Works

Aliquot psalmi latini et germanici for 4 to 6 Voices (1560); Zehen deutscher Psalmen for 4 to 5 Voices (Jena, 1562); XVII cantiones sacrae for 4 to 5 Voices (Wittenberg, 1565; ed. in Publikationen älterer praktischer und theoretischer Musikwerke, XXIV, 1903); Epitaphium püssimae et honestissimae matronae Magdalenae conjugis…Christophori Petzelii (Wittenberg, 1566); XVIII cantiones for 4 or more Voices (Magdeburg, 1567); XVII cantiones sacrae for 4 to 5 Voices (Wittenberg, 1568); Das schone Gebet, Hen Jesu Christ for 4 Voices (Magdeburg, 1569); XIX cantiones for 4 to 5 Voices (Magdeburg, 1569); XC cantiones for 4 or more Voices (Magdeburg, 1570); XVI Geseng for 4 or more Voices (Magdeburg, 1570); Opus sacrarum cantionum, nunc denuo recognitum, et multo quam antea correctius for 4 or more Voices (Nuremberg, 1570); Magnificat octo tonorum for 4 Voices (Magdeburg, 1571); Ausserlesene teutsche Lieder for 4 to 5 Voices and Instruments (Nuremberg, 1575).

Writings

Practica modorum explicatio (Jena, 1561); Praecepta musicae poeticae (MS, 1563; ed. by B. Engelke in Geschichtsblätter für Stadt und Land Magdeburg, XLIX-1,1914–15); Musicae practicae elementa in usum scholae Magdeburgensis edita (Magdeburg, 1571; 4th ed., 1601).

Bibliography

W. Luther, G. D.: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Schulkantorats im 16. Jahrhundert (Kassel, 1941).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire