Johann Walter (Composer)

Born: 1496 - Kahla (Cola), Thuringia, Germany
Died: before April 24, 1570 - Torgau, Germany

Johann Walter [Walther] was a German composer, one of the earliest of the composers in the Lutheran Church. As Martin Luther's friend and his musical adviser, Walter helped Luther to construct a new liturgy and composed tunes for many Lutheran hymns. He also pioneered the "dramatic" musical setting of the Passion in German.

Life

Born in Kahla (Thuringia), Johann Walter spent his formative years in the chapel of Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony. From 1520 until Frederick's death five years later, Walter not only directed the electoral chapel but also began his career as musical spokesman of the Lutherans.

In 1524 Johann Walter was bass singer in the choir at Torgau, and in 1525 Kapellmeister, or 'Sängermeister,' to the Elector of Saxony, and Kantor (musical director) of the town choir of Torgau in 1525. He held the post until 1548, when he sent to Dresden to organise and lead a choir of singers for Moritz of Saxony, and was was named court composer at Dresden to Moritz, Duke of Saxony. Walter remained at the Saxon court only a short time. By 1554 he accepted a pension from the duke and returned to Torgau, where he lived the rest of his life.

Works

In 1524 Johann Walter was called to Wittenberg by Martin Luther to assist him in framing the German Mass. The result of this was his Geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn for four voices (1524), the earliest Protestant hymn - book. Luther wrote a preface to this collection of 43 polyphonic works by Walter. Planned for young people in Lutheran schools, the collection went through many editions, the last one of which (1551) contained 47 Latin and 74 German pieces. In 1525 Luther consulted Walter about a projected sacred service in German, a service that was published as the Deutsche Messe (1526).

Probably during his Dresden residence Walter composed his "dramatic" or "responsorial" Passion in German. In earlier musical versions of the Passion story the entire narrative was a succession of polyphonic motets, but Walter used a monophonic reciting tone for the Evangelist and dramatis personae, reserving for the people and disciples simple falsobordone (chordal) polyphony.

Walter wrote his motets and lieder, often of high quality, in two distinct styles. For the first style he employed a polyphonic manner derived from the Franco-Flemish school. In the tenor voice of these compositions was a cantus firmus sounding as an unbroken succession of sustained notes or as a melody fragmented into short sections separated by rests. Above and below the cantus firmus were counterpoints that sometimes imitated the tenor but more often moved independently of it. In either case the melodic flow of four or more voices avoided simultaneous rests.

For the second style Walter rejected imitative or independent voice-leading for chordal writing in which each fragment of the cantus firmus rested simultaneously with the other parts. In a few such cases he placed the borrowed tune in the top voice, thereby inaugurating the favorite manner of chorale setting of the succeeding 2 centuries.

Johann Walther's other works are Cantio septem vocum, etc. (1544); Ein gar schöner geistlicher und ehristlieher Bergkreyen (1552); Magnificat octo tonorum (1557); Ein newes christliches Lied (1561); Das ehristlieh Kinderlied Dr. Martin Luthers, Erhalt uns Herr bei Deinem Wort... mit etlichen lateinischen und deutschen Sängen gemehret (1566). Other pieces are included in the collections of Rhaw and Forster, Montan-Neubers Psalmenwerk (1538), and Motettensammlung, 1540. Poems appeared in 1538 and 1564. (See Q.-L.) Some instrumental compositions discovered (1912) in the library of the Thomasschule at Leipzig were published in D.D.T. (Riemann).

Source: BookRags Website; Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1952 Edition, by Sir George Grove)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (February 2006)

Texts of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

BWV 42/7; BWV 126/6

Chorale Texts used in Bach’s Vocal Works

Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich (verse 2: 1566; NLGB 305; EG 421)

Chorale Melodies used in Bach’s Vocal Works

Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich (1566: 2nd half; Zahn 1945)

Christ ist erstanden (helped Martin Luther) (1533; EKG 75; Zahn 8584)

Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam (?) (1524; EKG 146; Zahn 7246)

Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott (1524; Zahn 5851) (probable composer)

Erhalt uns, Herr bei deinem Wort (1543)

Es spricht der Unweisen Mund wohl (1524; Zahn 4436)

Gott der Vater wohn uns bei (1523; Zahn 8507), after Halberstadt c1500

Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet (1524; Zahn 8078), based on a Leise from the Franciscan monastery Miltenberg (Mainz, c1390)

Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns den Gottes Zorn wandt (1524; Zahn 1576), after a melody from 1410

Mitten wir im Leben sind (1524; Zahn 8502), after the antiphon Mediavita in morte (1456)

Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist (1524; Zahn 2029), based on 13th century melody

Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich (1566: 2nd half; Zahn 1945)

Use of Chorale Melodies in his works

Christ ist erstanden, setting for 4 voices (CM: Christ ist erstanden; 1551)

Christ ist erstanden, setting for 5 voices (CM: Christ ist erstanden; 1551)

Christ lag in Todesbanden, setting in "Wittembergisch Geistlisch Gesangbuch" (CM: Christ lag in Todesbanden; 1524)

Christum wir sollen loben schon, 5-pt setting (CM: Christum wir sollen loben schon)

Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, 4-pt. chorale motet setting (CM: Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ; 1551)

Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn, setting for 4 voices, in "Geistlich gesangk Buchleyn" (CM: Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn; 1524)

Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott, 4-pt. setting for voices (CM: Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott; 1524)

Mit Fried und Freud, 4-pt. chorale motet setting (CM: Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin)

Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, 5-pt. setting for voices (CM: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland)

Links to other Sites

Johann Walther: Father of Lutheran Music (Carolina Classical)
Johann Walter Biography (BookRags)
Naxos: Johann Walter
HOASM: Johannes Walter
Johann Walter (University Leipzig) [German]

Bibliography

Robert Haas: Zu Walthers Choralpassion nach Matthäus. A.M.Z. Jan. 1922, pp. 24.47
Adolf Aber: Die Pflege der Musik unter den Wettinern, 1922. Aber produces evidence to show that Walther was the real founder of the musical liturgy of the Lutheam church.
A stylistic discussion of Walter's music is offered by Gustave Reese: Music in the Renaissance (1954; rev. ed. 1959), and in The New Oxford History of Music, vol. 4 (1968)