Josef Anton Singer (1810-1882)
- Missa pastoralis (1860)
Performers: Heike Heilmann (soprano); Julia Diefenbach (soprano);
Johannes Puchleitner (tenor);
Andreas Dürlinger (tenor); Markus Flaig
(bass);
Chor und Orchester der Akademie St. Blasius; Karlheinz Siessl
(conductor)
Painting: Wilhelm Ludwig Friedrich Riefstahl (1827-1888) - Kinderbegräbnis in Passeier (Tirol) (1886)
Further info: Tiroler Weihnachtskonzert 2017
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Austrian composer, organist, music theorist, and instrument maker. The
son of a miller, bell founder, and instrument maker, he attended the
gymnasium in Hall in Tirol from 1824 to 1830 before entering the
Franciscan Order in Salzburg in 1829, where he took his simple vows in
1830, solemn profession in 1833, and was ordained a priest in 1834. He
pursued theological studies in Salzburg, Schwaz, and Bolzano until 1837,
subsequently serving as organist and choir director in Bolzano and
Innsbruck between 1837 and 1840. From 1840 onward, he resided at the
Franciscan monastery in Salzburg, where he also held the position of
master of novices. In addition to developing a harmonium and several
physharmonica variants, he constructed the Pansymphonikon in 1845, a
reed-based keyboard instrument designed to emulate a full orchestra that
drew widespread admiration from notable contemporary figures, including
Franz Lachner, Franz Liszt, and Richard Wagner. In his theoretical
treatise 'Metaphysische Blicke' he drew upon the traditions of
Jean-Philippe Rameau and Anton Reicha to argue that all music derives
from the tonic triad, a concept he termed the "primal harmony"
(Urharmonie) and associated with the Holy Trinity, alongside its
auxiliary harmonies, namely the dominant seventh and the subdominant
with an added sixth. As a composer, he adhered to the standard
Franciscan scoring for organ and choir, occasionally utilizing vocal
soloists; however, his orchestral style of organ accompaniment, rich
harmonic language, and unconventional text setting (characterized by
omissions and rearrangements) stood in stark contrast to the aesthetic
tenets of the Caecilian movement. Conversely, his virtuosic organ
performances, particularly his pedal technique, were highly acclaimed by
both Franz Liszt and Anton Bruckner.
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