Forster, Georg 01/01/1510 - 11/12/1568

Georg Forster (1510-1568) was a German composer and doctor. He was born in Amberg. A chorister at the electoral court in Heidelberg by about 1521,he also began to compose there and to collect songs. He studied at Heidelberg University with Lemlin and became a medical student at Ingolstadt in 1531; in 1534-9 he was in Wittenberg in Luther's circle; after qualifying he practised as a doctor in various German cities. He wrote a book of motets and psalms, but—more significantly—edited a monumental collection of German songs, the Frische teutsche Liedlein in five volumes (1539-56). These contain his own works as well as those of many composers associated with Heidelberg (Jobst von Brandt, Paul Hofhaimer, Caspar Othmayr und Stefan Zirler), and chart the development of the Liedfrom 4- to 5-part writing, and from the medium of solo voice with instruments to that of the vocal consort with all parts having text underlaid. In 1542 he also published a volume of Würzburg Psalms.