Harnisch, Otto Siegfried
Harnisch, Otto Siegfried
Harnisch, Otto Siegfried, German composer; b. Reckershausen, near Göttingen, c. 1568; d. Göttingen (buried), Aug. 18, 1623. He was educated at the Univ. of Helmstedt (1585–93), during which time he served as cantor at St. Blasius in Braunschweig (1588–89), and then in Helmstedt (1593–94) and at the gymnasium and at the Marienkirche in Wolfenbüttel (1594–1600). After serving as Kapellmeister at the ducal court in Iburg, near Osnabrück, he was cantor at the Academy and at the Johanniskirche in Göttingen from 1603 until his death. Harnisch was a notable composer of sacred music. In his Passio dominica (1621), he was the first composer to set the turbae to 5 voices. His other works include 3 vols, of German secular songs for 3 Voices in the Italian villanella manner (1587, 1588, 1591) and 2 vols, of motets (1592, 1621). He also publ, the theoretical treatise Artis musicae delineatio (Frankfurt am Main, 1608).
Bibliography
H.-O. Hiekel, O. S. H.: Leben und Werk (diss., Univ. of Hamburg, 1956).
—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire