Georg Rhau (Rhaw) (1488 – 6 August 1548) was a German publisher and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. He was one of the most significant music printers in Germany in the first half of the 16th century, during the early period of the Protestant Reformation. He was principally active in

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, the town where Martin Luther is said to have nailed the Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Castle Church, initiating the Reformation. Rhau's support as a printer was critical to Luther's success.Mattfield, Grove online

Life

Born in the

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

n town of Eisfeld, then part of Ernestine Saxony, Rhau from 1513 onwards studied philosophy at the newly established University of Wittenberg. From 1518 he continued his studies at the University of Leipzig where he also worked as a tutor. He was the cantor of Leipzig Thomanerchor from 1518 to 1520. During Luther's Leipzig Debate, he performed his

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

''Missa de Sancto Spiritu'' for twelve voices on 27 June 1519. In 1520 Rhau had to leave Leipzig, due to his favourable attitude towards the Reformation, and went on to serve as a schoolmaster in the Mansfeld town of Eisleben and in Hildburghausen. From 1522 he worked as a printer in Wittenberg, where he established his own printing shop and publishing house. In 1528, he is again documented as Thomanerchor organist. Rhau published methodbooks and various significant prints of music by contemporary composers, such as Heinrich Finck, Thomas Stoltzer, Arnold von Bruck, and Ludwig Senfl. His collection is an important document for the development of

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church music.

References

*Victor H. Mattfield, "Georg Rhau." Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed July 7, 2007)
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Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhau, Georg 1488 births 1548 deaths German printers German Renaissance composers German male classical composers Thomaskantors German music theorists People from Hildburghausen (district)