Grefinger, Wolfgang

views updated

Grefinger, Wolfgang

Grefinger, Wolfgang, important Austro-German composer; b. between 1470 and 1480; d. after 1515. He studied with Paul Hofhaimer. At the beginning of the 16th century he went to Vienna, where he attended the Univ. (1509) and was ordained, serving as organist at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. His historical significance rests upon his Tenorlieder, which are a vital link between the works of Erasmus Lapicida and Arnold von Bruck. He also composed sacred music, being especially admired for his 4-voice settings of hymns by Prudentius, Cathemerinon: Hoc est Diurnarum rerum opus varium (Vienna, 1515). He ed. the liturgical hymnbook Psalterium pataviense antiphonis, responsoriis, hymnisque in notis musicalibus (Vienna, 1512). His works were ed. by L. Nowak in Das deutsche Gesellschaftslied in Österreich von 1480-1550 in Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, LXXII, Jg. XXXVII/2 (1930).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire