Peter Griesbacher (1864 – 1933) was a German
classical composer, organist and bell expert.
Griesbacher was born in Egglham. He studied in Passau
and was ordained a priest in 1886. From 1894 to 1895 he
was music prefect at the Studienseminar (study
seminary) St. Emmeram in Regensburg. Due to his
reputation as a church composer, he was appointed in
1911 a lecturer at the Kirchenmusikschule Regensburg
(School of Church Music) of Regensburg, where he taught
counterpoint, musical form and stylistic...(+)
Peter Griesbacher (1864 – 1933) was a German
classical composer, organist and bell expert.
Griesbacher was born in Egglham. He studied in Passau
and was ordained a priest in 1886. From 1894 to 1895 he
was music prefect at the Studienseminar (study
seminary) St. Emmeram in Regensburg. Due to his
reputation as a church composer, he was appointed in
1911 a lecturer at the Kirchenmusikschule Regensburg
(School of Church Music) of Regensburg, where he taught
counterpoint, musical form and stylistic. Around the
same time he was appointed Vicar and then canon at the
Collegiate St. Johann in Regensburg. In 1930 the
chapter elected him dean. He temporarily was director,
until Carl Thiel succeeded Karl Weinberger. He died in
Regensburg of gastrointestinal cancer.
Griesbacher composed predominantly Catholic church
music. Based on the a cappella of the Cecilian
Movement, he wrote works accompanied by the organ. When
orchestra was added, he did not do the instrumentation
himself. He tried to combine the strict Cecelian style
with late romantic harmonies. His later works are
characterised by a rather complex musical language.
Griesbacher played a role in the transition of Catholic
church music from the 19th to the 20th century. He
created about 250 works, including 49 masses.
The Roman Catholic Mass takes its name from the words
spoken in Latin at the end of the ceremony: Ite, missa
est.(Go, it is the dismissal.) From the first
millennium of the Common Era various texts from the
Mass have been sung, first as plainchant (including
Gregorian chant, Ambrosian chant, Mozarabic, and so on)
and, beginning with the motets of Magister Leoninus and
Perotinus, increasingly as homophonic music.
It was soon recognised that certain texts were more
suitable for setting to music, since they were
frequently recited on numerous occasions in the Church
calendar, or in virtually every ceremony; these texts
became known as the Ordinary, differentiating them from
the Propers, which were items specific to the season,
hour or the day.
It was in 1531 that the Mother of God appeared to Juan
Diego in Tepeyac Hill in Mexico and performed "the
miracle of the roses" as proof to Bishop Zumarraga of
her presence. Roses never grew on that rocky terrain,
and certainly not in December. Moreover, when, in their
surprise, the bishop's attendants tried to pick and
take some of them from his tilma, they could not do so
because they became, as one author put it, "not roses
that they touched, but as if they were painted or
embroidered." Indeed, they were "mystical roses" from
the hands of the Mystical Rose herself.
Although this work was originally written for Voice (T)
and Organ, I created this arrangement for Oboe &
Concert (Pedal) Harp.
PARTITION