Erbach, Christian (EN)

Erbach, Erbacher, Christian, *ca. 1570 Gau-Algesheim (Rhineland-Palatinate), buried 14 June 1635 Augsburg, German composer and organist. He worked in Augsburg. From at least 1596 to 1614, he was organist in the chapel of Marcus Fugger the Younger, to whom he dedicated his Modi sacri (Augsburg, 1600). Between 1602 and 1625, he served as organist at St. Moritz Collegiate Church. At the same time, from 1614 he was organist, and from 1625 until almost his death, principal organist at Augsburg Cathedral. From 1602 he also served as municipal organist and director of the city musicians, succeeding H. L. Hassler. In 1631, he briefly became a member of the Augsburg city council, which was dissolved a year later during the Swedish occupation. On 9 June 1635, he was dismissed from the cathedral due to lack of funds. He died shortly thereafter. He was valued not only as a composer and organist, but also as an organ expert. Erbach’s son, also named Christian (1603–1645), also left behind several compositions.

Both Erbach’s vocal works and his organ works, which are more important for the history of music, show very strong influences of Venetian music, particularly evident in the typical use of polychoral technique and in the formal structure of ricercars, canzonas, and toccatas. In the imitative passages of his organ works, the way in which the themes are shaped is also noteworthy, with certain specific instrumental features later found in Bach’s fugue themes. The composer often juxtaposes two themes on the basis of contrast. Erbach, a widely respected teacher, trained many good organists, thereby contributing to the spread of the Venetian style in southern Germany.

Seven of Erbach’s organ works were recorded in 1617 mechanically on a metal cylinder, constructed for the Duke Francis of Pomerania and stored in Szczecin until 1939; this recording provides important information about performance practice at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Literature: M. Seiffert Geschichte der Klaviermusik, Leipzig 1899; O. Ursprung Die katholische Kirchenmusik, Potsdam 1931; R. Schaal Zur Musikpflege im Kollegiatstift St. Moritz zu Augsburg, “Die Musikforschung” VII, 1954; A. Gottron Christian Erbach (1570–1635), ein berühmter Gau-Algesheimer Komponist in: 600 Jahre Stadt Gau-Algesheim, ed. A.P. Brück, Gau-Algesheim 1955; A. Gottron Die Kanones Erbachs im Pommerschen Kunstschrank 1617, “Die Musikforschung” XII, 1959; A. Layer Musik und Musiker der Fuggerzeit: Begleitheft zur Ausstellung der Stadt Augsburg, Augsburg 1959; W.K. Haldeman The Vocal Compositions of Christian Erbach (c.1570–1635), thesis, University of Rochester, 1962; A. Layer Augsburger Musikkultur der Renaissance, in: Musik in der Reichsstadt Augsburg, ed. L. Wegele, Augsburg 1965; R. Schaal Neues zur Kantorei St. Anna in Augsburg, “Archiv für Musikwissenschaft” XXII, 1965; R. Busch Christian Erbach (1570-1635), “Musica Sacra” XC, 1970; W. Apel Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700, Kassel 1967English translation London 1972; R.B. Lynn Renaissance Organ Music for the Proper of the Mass in Continental Sources, thesis, Indiana University, 1973; D.L. Brattain The Organ Ricercars of Hans Leo Hassler and Christian Erbach, thesis, Ohio State University, 1979; A. Gottron Christian Erbach als Vokal-Komponist, “Mitteilungen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft für mittelrheinische Musikgeschichte” I, 1985; A. Beer Gregor Aichinger und Christian Erbach als Orgelgutachter in Ellwangen, “Musik in Bayern” XXXIX, 1989; R. Charteris and G. Haberkamp Regensburg, Bischöfliche Zentralbibliothek, Butsch 205–210: A Little-Known Source of the Music of Giovanni Gabrieli and his Contemporaries, “Musica Disciplina” XLIII, 1989; R. Charteris Two Little-Known Music Manuscripts in Augsburg with Works by Giovanni Gabrieli and His Contemporaries, “Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle” XXIII, 1990; R. Charteris An Early Seventeenth-Century Manuscript Discovery in Augsburg, “Musica Disciplina” XLVII, 1993; R. Charteris A New Source of Late Renaissance Sacred Vocal Music. in: Liber amicorum John Steele. A musicological tribute, ed. W. Drake, Stuyvesant 1997; S. Gissel Die zwölf Tonarten Glareans in Vokalwerken. Von Josquin Desprez bis Heinrich Schütz, Wilhelmshaven 2015.