Paminger, Leonhard 03/29/1495 - 05/03/1567

Leonhard Paminger (* March 29, 1495 in Aschach an der Donau; (Upper Austria; † May 3, 1567 in Passau) was an Austrian composer. Of Leonhard Paminger's life, only what little has survived is recounted by his sons and by a description of his life by the Oettingen seminary rector Philipp Albert Christfels in 1764. According to this, Paminger was already in Vienna at the age of 10, where (after a difficult tine in school) he was able to obtain a position in the choir of St. Stephan. There he was highly regarded for his deep bass and his skills on the harp, lute and flute. Paminger, who was fluent in Latin and Greek, also taught himself knowledge of composition. Around 1517, at the age of 22, he came to the ''Augustinian Canons' Monastery of St. Nikola'' outside Passau, probably as a school assistant. He remained in the service of the monastery until his death. Although he was closely involved with the Reformation in literary terms (among other things, he received an approving letter from Martin Luther)- Paminger cannot unequivocally be described as a Protestant.

In addition to theological treatises and translations of ancient comedies, Paminger left behind a very extensive compositional oeuvre, which his sons Sophonias and Sigismund published in the years between 1573 and 1580. In this edition of the "Cantiones ecclesiasticae," only a few copies of which have survived, about 700 of Paminger's church music vocal works have been preserved, including the setting of the almost complete Psalter.