Gumpelzhaimer, Adam 01/01/1559 - 11/03/1625

Adam Gumpelzhaimer (1559-1625) was born in Trotzberg, Bavaria, in modern-day Germany. He attended the school of the Benedictine monastery St. Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg, where he received his musical education from Jodocus Entzenmüller. He may have studied briefly with Lassus, and also in Italy. In 1581 he became preceptor and cantor at the Protestant St. Anna Gymnasium; except for a short period in Stuttgart, he worked there until his death. In April 1582 he received a diploma from the University in Ingolstadt. It is not certain when he obtained the title of master ("magister") which he styles himself in the Wirtzgärtlein collection published in 1619.



Under Gumpelzhaimer's aegis St. Anna flourished, and contributed in great measure to the development of Protestant church music in southern Germany. In 1595 Gumpelzhaimer published a modernized version of Faber's Compendium Musicae, with examples taken from the music of contemporary German composers. It remained a standard textbook in southern Germany until the late seventeenth century.



He composed psalms and sacred songs, and motets which use polychoral effects. His songs are based mostly on Italian models and belong to the categories of the canzonetta and villanella. Gumpelzhaimer is probably the first composer to use these secular genres for sacred texts.



In his through-composed eight-part motets (using mostly psalm texts) he uses the Italian double-choir effects. In his Sacrorum concentuum... liber secundus, published in 1614, he records the figured bass accompaniment for the first time. The fact that his compositions appear in diverse collections and copies of the day proves his fame in German-speaking Europe. His compositions continue to appear in modern-day choral collections.



However, the appreciation of Gumpelzhaimer as a composer was exceeded during his lifetime and for decades afterwards by his reputation as a music theoretician.