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
s...(+)
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.
The offertory (offering), in the Roman Catholic Mass
and in derived liturgical forms, is the preparation of
bread and wine on the altar and their formal offering
to God. It takes place after the gospel and the creed
and before the preface. A short psalm verse from
Scriptures is appointed to be said or sung at the
beginning; it varies from day to day. This is called
the offertory verse. From ancient times it has been
customary to collect the alms of the worshipers about
the time of the offertory, hence the term has been
transferred to the collection taken up in services in
Protestant churches and to the music played or sung
during the collection. The choice of this selection is
usually left to the musicians of the church, and in
many Protestant churches the offertory is the choir's
principal musical selection in the service.
Psalm 51 (Greek numbering: Psalm 50), traditionally
referred to as the Miserere, its Latin incipit, is one
of the Penitential Psalms. It begins: Have mercy on me,
O God. The psalm's opening words in Latin, Miserere
mei, Deus, have led to its being called the Miserere
Mei or even just Miserere. It is often known by this
name in musical settings.
Although originally written for Voice (SATT), Strings
and Organ, I created this arrangement for Woodwinds
(Flute & Oboe), Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello) and
Acoustic Piano.
