Messner, Joseph

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Messner, Joseph

Messner, Joseph, Austrian organist, conductor, and composer; b. Schwaz, Tirol, Feb. 27, 1893; d. St. Jakob Thurn, near Salzburg, Feb. 23, 1969. He studied at the Univ. of Innsbruck, and after his ordination (1918) he took courses in organ and composition with Friedrich Klose at the Munich Akademie der Tonkunst. In 1922 he was appointed Cathedral organist in Salzburg, and from 1926 to 1967 he led the concerts at the Salzburg Cathedral; at the same time, he gave a seminar in church music at the Mozarteum there. He wrote 4 operas:Hadassa (Aachen, March 27, 1925), Das letzte Recht (1932), Ines (1933), and Agnes Bernauer (1935), as well as 3 syms., Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto, String Quartet, and several sacred works, including 11 masses.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire