Performers: Péter Bárány (countertenor); Csaba Gyulai, Zoltán Gavodi (tenor); András Koncz, Zoltán Miszei (baritone); András Demjén (bass).
Playing time: 66'12
Recording date: 18-22 September, 2001
Though better known today for the four "German language psalms" he wrote for Louis II and Maria of Hungary, Thomas Stoltzer (ca. 1480-1526) was primarily a composer of Catholic liturgical music, working at Breslau Cathedral from 1519 until 1522 and then as kapellmeister to the court choir in Buda from 1522 until his death. Stoltzer's music shares some affinities with (and borrows much material from) the works of Heinrich Finck, and it has been suggested that he was Finck's pupil. In any event, his works have an antiquated, "medieval" sound compared to those of his contemporaries, although his considerable gift for melody gives his works quite a distinct style. He was long thought to have perished with Louis in the battle of 1526 at Mohács, but an elegy reveals that he slipped and drowned in ice floes later that year while attempting to cross a river in Moravia. Though he is often mentioned as one of the first Protestant composers, it is unlikely he ever became a convert to Protestantism.
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Christopher Schifani