One of the most important Lutheran composers of the sixteenth century, Johannes Eccard helped foster a new musical culture that was centered around the Lutheran chorale -- a culture that would eventually culminate in the music of Bach and even later, Brahms. Eccard was born in the Thuringian village of Mühlhausen, and began his long musical career in the Lateinschule there. He probably was a pupil of the Mühlhausen Kantor Joachim a Burck, andRead more continued his musical education in Weimar under the tutelage of the kapellmeister David Köller (1569-1571). For the next two years, Eccard sang in the Hofkapelle of the Bavarian court, and certainly went there to study music and musical composition with the world-renowned Orlande de Lassus who led the choir. Having soaked up the best music of his Protestant (and Catholic) teachers, Eccard embarked upon a stellar musical career, starting in his mid-twenties (1577-1578) with employment in the household of the hugely wealthy Augsburg banker Jakob Fugger, for whom Eccard wrote a Mass, and with whose support he printed his second book of German-texted music.
Eccard proceeded from Fugger's patronage to a series of high court appointments across the German countryside. He served in the chapel of the Margrave of Bandenburg at Ansbach and Königsberg from 1580; he was promoted to vice kapellmeister in 1586 and finally achieved the coveted title of chapelmaster when his next patron, the Elector Jocahim Friedrich of Brandenburg, became Administrator of Prussia. By this date in 1604, Eccard had continued not only to produce the seasonal round of church music, but had printed a massive and influential collection of Lutheran chorale settings, the Geistliche Lieder of 1597. In 1608, the Elector put Eccard in charge of his main musical forces in Berlin, where the old musician expired in 1611. Yet Eccard's music did not cease with his death. It was still being printed in new editions as late as 1644, was being quoted as late as 1672 (in a Passion setting by Johann Sebastiani), and would be cherished by German musicians as late as Johannes Brahms. Eccard pioneered and developed not only the well-known simple four-part congregational settings of the Lutheran hymns (his setting of Luther's "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott" became a standard), but also the more advanced type of Lutheran chorale-motet that would become so popular in the seventeenth century. Read less
Label: Ars Musici
Catalog: 233599
Release Date: 11/13/2012
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Anonymous,
Traditional,
Orlando de Lassus,
Michael Praetorius
...
Performer:
Franz Lehrndorfer,
Kay Stiefermann
Conductor:
Johannes B. Goschl,
Martin Zobeley,
Raimund Hug,
Heinz Hennig
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Schola Gregoriana Monacensis,
Munich Group for Early Music,
Freiburg Spielleyt Ensemble
...
Label: Rondeau Productions
Catalog: 6070
Release Date: 11/13/2012
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Anonymous,
Johannes Unger,
Johannes Brahms,
Traditional
...
Performer:
Johannes Unger,
Jan-Handrik Jensch,
Johanna Maier
Conductor:
Michael D. Muller
Label: Md&g (Dabringhaus & Grimm)
Catalog: 9021725
Release Date: 10/16/2012
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Andreas Hammerschmidt,
Michael Praetorius,
Walther Schmidt,
Heinrich Schütz
...
Performer:
Kay Johannsen
Conductor:
Rainer Johannes Homburg
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Stuttgart Hymnus Boys Choir
Label: Berlin Classics
Catalog: 300332
Release Date: 06/12/2012
Number of Discs: 4
Composer:
Heinrich Schütz,
Johann Caspar Horn,
Sethus Calvisius,
Samuel Seidel
...
Performer:
Fritz Herrmann,
Georg Guldner,
Felix Morgner,
Franz Lindner
...
Conductor:
Roderich Kreile
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Cappella Sagittariana
Label: Berlin Classics
Catalog: 300174
Release Date: 10/11/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Henry Purcell,
Valerius Otto,
Johannes Crüger,
Johannes Eccard
...
Performer:
Ludwig Güttler
Conductor:
Ludwig Güttler
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Semper Brass,
Blechbläserensemble
Label: Cavi Music
Catalog: 7771046
Release Date: 10/11/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Heinrich Schütz,
Johann Hermann Schein,
Johannes Eccard,
Ernst Pepping
...
Conductor:
Steffen Walther
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Chemnitz Chamber Choir
Label: Helios
Catalog: 55443
Release Date: 10/11/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Alwyn Surplice,
Felix Mendelssohn,
William Byrd,
Traditional
...
Performer:
Huw Tregelles Williams,
Roy Rashbrook,
Robert Rice,
Timothy Jones
...
Conductor:
John Scott
Orchestra/Ensemble:
St. Paul's Cathedral Choir
Recommendation
Label: Berlin Classics
Catalog: 300146
Release Date: 10/11/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
George Frideric Handel,
Pavel Josef Vejvanovsky,
Arcangelo Corelli,
Johannes Eccard
...
Performer:
Ludwig Güttler
Conductor:
Ludwig Güttler
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Virtuosi Saxoniae
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Catalog: 807565
Release Date: 09/13/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Anonymous,
Biasio Tomasi,
Traditional,
Alessandro Grandi
...
Conductor:
Paul Hillier
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Theatre of Voices,
Ars Nova Copenhagen
Recommendation
Label: Berlin Classics
Catalog: 300227
Release Date: 07/12/2011
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Heinrich Isaac,
Pierre de La Rue,
Josquin Des Préz,
Antoine de Févin
...
Performer:
Karl-Heinz Schmieder,
Werner Eberhardt,
Siegfried Hausmann,
Joachim Vogt
...
Conductor:
Dietrich Knothe,
Hans Gruss,
Roderich Kreile,
Rudolf Mauersberger
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Schütz-Akademie,
Virtuosi Saxoniae,
Trompetensemble Ludwig Güttler
...
Label: Christophorus
Catalog: 161
Release Date: 04/26/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
St. Zeno Bei Reichenhall,
Bertold Hummel,
Glogauer Liede Anonymous,
Giovanni Palestrina
...
Conductor:
Christian Ridil
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Augsburger Vokalensemble
Label: Berlin Classics
Catalog: 300147
Release Date: 01/11/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Heinrich Isaac,
Pierre de La Rue,
Josquin Des Préz,
Antoine de Févin
...
Performer:
Gothart Stier,
Siegfried Hausmann,
Karl-Heinz Schmieder,
Joachim Vogt
...
Conductor:
Dietrich Knothe,
Hans Gruss,
Roderich Kreile,
Rudolf Mauersberger
...
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 001493002
Release Date: 11/09/2010
Number of Discs: 7
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
George Frideric Handel,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Traditional
...
Performer:
Hans-Peter Blochwitz,
Olaf Bär,
Anne Sofie von Otter,
Anthony Rolfe Johnson
...
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner,
Christopher Hogwood,
Valery Gergiev,
Georg Ratzinger
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
English Baroque Soloists,
Monteverdi Choir,
Academy of Ancient Music
...
Recommendation
Label: Berlin Classics
Catalog: 149542
Release Date: 07/27/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Andreas Hammerschmidt,
Johannes Eccard,
Heinrich Schütz
...
Performer:
Burkhard Glaetzner,
Ludwig Güttler,
Dietrich W. Prost,
Theo Adam
...
Conductor:
Martin Flämig
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Dresden Kreuz Choir,
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra,
Leipzig Thomaner Choir
...
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 09004
Release Date: 07/13/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Charles Villiers Stanford,
Tomás Luis de Victoria,
Charles Wood,
Peter Philips
...
Conductor:
Stephen Cleobury
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Cambridge King's College Choir