Johann Caspar Aiblinger (1779 – 1867) was a German
composer. He was born in Wasserburg am Inn, Bavaria. In
his eleventh year he commenced his studies at Tegernsee
Abbey, where he was instructed in piano and
organ-playing. Four years later he entered the
gymnasium at Munich, where he studied under Professor
Schlett, his countryman.
In 1800 he began his studies at the University of
Landshut. Inwardly drawn to the Catholic Church, he
completed his philosophy and began theology, but the
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Johann Caspar Aiblinger (1779 – 1867) was a German
composer. He was born in Wasserburg am Inn, Bavaria. In
his eleventh year he commenced his studies at Tegernsee
Abbey, where he was instructed in piano and
organ-playing. Four years later he entered the
gymnasium at Munich, where he studied under Professor
Schlett, his countryman.
In 1800 he began his studies at the University of
Landshut. Inwardly drawn to the Catholic Church, he
completed his philosophy and began theology, but the
secularization of many religious orders in Bavaria
prevented his entrance into a cloister. He now devoted
himself solely to music. Led by the then prevailing
idea that without a visit to Italy no musical education
is complete, he turned his footsteps southward.
After a stay of eight years at Vicenza, where he fell
under the influence of his countryman Johann Simon
Mayr, Aiblinger (1811) went to Venice and there met
Meyerbeer, who procured for him an appointment at the
Conservatory. His failure to establish a school for
classical music led him to Milan to assume the
direction of the local ballet. On his return to
Bavaria, King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria invited
him to Munich to direct the Italian opera. King Ludwig
I of Bavaria appointed him director of the royal
orchestra, and sent him to Italy to collect old Italian
masterpieces. On his return be became the organist of
the church of All Saints for which he wrote many
valuable compositions.
Between 1820 and 1830 he tried operatic composition,
but was unsuccessful. A crusade against Italian music,
which led to the revival of Christoph Willibald Gluck's
Iphigenia in Tauris, followed. Then he took up church
music, studying the old masters and procuring
performances of their works. He also wrote much church
music. His numerous compositions comprise masses and
requiems, offertories and graduals, psalms, litanies,
and German hymns, many of which have been published at
Augsburg, Munich, Regensburg, and Mainz.
This work was arranged from the Graduale: "Anima Mea"
movement of the larger "Offertorien und Gradualia" Mass
and although originally written for Voice (SA) and
Organ, I created this arrangement for Solo Concert
(Pedal) Harp.
