Stoltzer, Thomas

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Stoltzer, Thomas

Stoltzer, Thomas, important German composer; b. Schweidnitz, Silesia, c. 1480; d. (drowned in the Taja) near Znaim, Moravia, Feb. (?) 1526. He may have studied with Heinrich Finck, whose works he knew well. In 1519 became a priest in Breslau, where he held a benefice at St. Elisabeth’s and was vicarius discontinuus at the Cathedral; was named magister capellae at the Hungarian royal court in Ofen by Ludwig II in 1522, where he composed his most important works. Stoltzer was one of the leading composers of sacred music of his era; his 14 Latin and 4 German Psalm motets are of a very high order. His Octo tonorum melodiae, 8 5-part instrumental fantasias arranged according to the church modes, is most likely the earliest motet-style cycle for instruments. Among his other works are masses, Magnificats, antiphons, hymns, Psalms, introits, sequences, responsories, and sacred and secular lieder. A number of his works were publ. in collections of his day; see also H. Albrecht and O. Gombosi, eds., Thomas Stoltzer: Sämtliche lateinische Hymnen und Psalmen, Denkmäler Deutscher Tonkunst, LXV (1931), and H. Albrecht and L. Hoffmann-Erbrecht, eds., Thomas Stoltzer. Ausgewählte Werke, I-II, ibid., XXII (1942) and LXVI (1969).

Biblography

L. Hoffmann-Erbrecht, T. S.: Leben und Schaffen (Kassel, 1964).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire