Rosenmüller, Johann 08/24/1617 - 09/12/1684

Johann Rosenmüller (1619-1684) was a German composer. He was born in Oelsnitz in the Vogtland and studied theology around 1640 at the University of Leipzig. Soon thereafter he was appointed „Collaborator“ and „Baccalaureus funerum“ at the Thomas School there, where he also substituted for cantor Tobias Michael from 1640 to 1655. From 1651 on he was the organist of the Nicolai church, later also at the first Leipzig Main Church at St. Thomas. In 1653 he had good prospects for the post of Thomas cantor, but was suddenly imprisoned and deprived of all his positions in 1655 after being accused of fornicating with choirboys.



Rosenmüller managed to escape his prison and fled to Hamburg and then to Venice. Here he built a new life for himself as trombonist at the Cathedral of St. Mark and soon also as a composer.



He soon started calling himself Giovanni Rosenmiller. During his 24-year stay in Venice he became a well-respected man; for a time he was kapellmeister at the Ospedale della Pietà, where Antonio Vivaldi later worked.



However, he did not completely break off all ties to Germany; in 1660 the Weimar court sent a messenger to Venice to obtain some compositions. In 1673 Johann Philipp Krieger came from Bayreuth to study with him.



In 1682 Rosenmüller returned to Germany as court kapellmeister of Duke Anton Ulrich von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. He died in Wolfenbüttel two years later.