Johannes Aal (c. 1500 – 28 May 1553) was a Swiss

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

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 ...

and

dramaturg A dramaturge or dramaturg (from Ancient Greek δραματουργός – dramatourgós) is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and pr ...

. Aal was born in

Bremgarten, Switzerland Bremgarten is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Switzerland, Swiss canton of Aargau. It serves as seat of the Bremgarten (district), district of Bremgarten. The medieval old town is listed as a Swiss inventory of cultural proper ...

, and was pastor there until 1529. Then, he became ''Leutpriester'' in

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

until 1536. At the collegiate church of

Solothurn Solothurn ( ; ; ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains. The town is ...

, he became preacher and choir leader in 1538. From 1544 to 1551, he was provost of the college of canons, where he died. He is the author of the tragedy ''Johannes der Täufer (St. John Baptist)'' in which it was first performed in 1549 in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. The piece has a duration of two days with four acts each. It includes

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

s, romantic scenes, and satirical elements. Its

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

derides all classes and the court as well as curiosity, passion for finery, loquacity and the art of seduction of women. As a musician, he composed a tune in 16 verses on

Saint Maurice Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, Maurits, or Mauritius; ) was an Egyptians, Egyptian military leader who headed the legendary Theban Legion of Roman Empire, Rome in the 3rd century, and is one of the favourite and most widely venerated saints of tha ...

and Saint Ursus of Solothurn.

Sources

*''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie''
online version
* 1500s births 1553 deaths People from Bremgarten, Aargau 16th-century Swiss Roman Catholic theologians Swiss dramatists and playwrights Swiss male dramatists and playwrights Swiss male writers Swiss composers Swiss male composers 16th-century composers Swiss satirists Swiss satirical dramatists and playwrights {{Switzerland-composer-stub

Further reading

Sources