Born: c1540 - Weißenfels, Germany
Died: Early 1599 - Naumburg, Germany

Weber, Georg Weber was a German composer. He studied in Leipzig, and was a Kantor in Weißenfels from 1558 to 1566 and in Naumburg until 1568. From that year until 1574 he lived in Weißenfels but held no professional appointment. Subsequently he again became a Kantor. In 1595 or 1596 he once more settled in Naumburg. He was considered a competent composer by his contemporaries, and it is highly probable that Schütz received his earliest musical instruction between 1590 and 1595 from him.

Only one of Georg Weber's published works is extant as far as is known (see Finscher, p.63); the titles of the lost works, however, indicate that he contributed to the development of Protestant church music in the second half of the 16^th century both in the fields of the homophonic chorale and the chanson motet. The one surviving work is his Geistliche Lieder und Psalmen des … Herrn D. Martinus Lutheri … nach Ordnung der Jahrzeit (Erfurt, 1588, enlarged 2/1594); it comprises 51 four-part homophonic settings, the cantus firmus being placed in the highest part, and follows the general pattern (Kantionalsatz) established by Lucas Osiander in 1586. The songs, however, are intended for singing by students in the streets, not for use in church services; they are, therefore, not wholly homophonic and do not always adhere strictly to the traditional chorale melodies.

A third edition of this publication appeared in 1596, Geistliche deutzsche Lieder und Psalmen … erstlichen mit 4 Stimmen, jetztund aber alle mit 8 Stimmen uff 2 Chor zu singen, with each piece arranged for eight-part double choir. Manuscript sources preserve two motets by Weber: Allein zu dir Herr Jesu Christ, for eight voices, and Surge propera amica mea, for six voices (in D-Dl and Mbs respectively). He also wrote two volumes of psalm settings, Teutsche Psalmen … Davids mit 4, 5 und 6 Stimmen (Mühlhausen, 1568-9), but these are now lost.

Source: Grove Music Online, © Oxford University Press 2006, acc. 5/10/06 (Authors: Walter Blankenburg/Clytus Gottwald)
Contributed by Thomas Braatz (May 2006)

Use of Chorale Melodies in his works

Title

Chorale Melody

Year

Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Motet for 8 voices

Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ

Links to other Sites

Bibliography

EitnerQ
A. Werner: Städtische und fürstliche Musikpflege in Weissenfels (Leipzig, 1911)
L. Finscher: ‘Das Kantional des Georg Weber aus Weissenfels’, Jb für Liturgik und Hymnologie, iii (1957), 62–78
A. Schmiedecke: ‘Der Weissenfelser Kantor Georg Weber (1538–1599)’, Mf, xxii (1969), 64-9
W. Braun: ‘Notizen zu Georg Weber d.Ä.’, Mf, xxiv (1971), 166-7
W. Denhardt: Die deutsche Psalmmotette in der Reformationszeit (Wiesbaden, 1971)