Leopold Strach (1699-1755)
- Missa Solemnis (c.1730)
Performers: Mieke van der Sluis (sopran); Bernhard Landauer (alt);
Wilfried Jochens (tenor); Wolf Matthias Friedrich (bass); Kammerchor des
Ferdinandeums; Concerto Armonico Budapest; Josef Wetzinger (conductor)
Further info: Musik aus Stift Stams XXI
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Bohemian composer and church musician. His early life and training
remain unknown. Born in Kolín, his documented career began in 1727 when
he was employed as a bassist and court composer under the Prince-Bishop
of Brixen. By 1728, he provisionally assumed the duties of
Vice-Kapellmeister for Prince-Bishop Kaspar Ignaz von Künigl, a
leadership position over the court and cathedral choir (Hof- und
Domkapellmeister) that he officially secured in 1730 and held for the
rest of his life. Strach was a prolific creator of sacred music, much of
which was performed at the Stams Abbey (Abbatia B. M. V. et Sancti
Ioannis Baptistae), but he also composed secular theatrical music for
the Brixen Gymnasium, including Conradinus (1737) and Genovefa (1739).
Following his death in Brixen in June 1755, he left behind an extensive
library of roughly 3,000 sheets of usable musical material, which the
cathedral chapter purchased from his widow for 100 florins on the advice
of his successor, Simon Judas Thaddäus Mayr.
