ALBERT, HEINRICH

ALBERT, HEINRICH. — Composer, born in Löbenstein on 8 July 1604, died in Königsberg on 10 October 1651. He first studied in Dresden (1622), then in Königsberg, where he became organist of the Cathedral. In his 8 books of Arias (1638–50), he left a collection of monodic and polyphonic songs, both sacred and secular, in which he proved an effective propagator in German musical circles of Italian-style monody with basso continuo, and an advocate of the new German Lied. Modern editions of various of his compositions were prepared by E. Bernoulli in volumes XII and XIII of the Denkmäler der deutschen Tonkunst, and by R. Eitner in the volume Cantatae des 17. und 18. Jahrh. (supplement to the Monatshefte für Musikgeschichte, 1884).

Luisa Cervelli