Johann Rudolph Ahle
{{Short description|German composer (1625–1673)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Johann Rudolph Ahle
| birth_name =
| image =
| image_upright =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1625|12|24|df=y}}
| birth_place = Mühlhausen, Thuringia
| death_date = {{death date and age|1673|7|9|1625|12|24|df=y}}
| death_place = Mühlhausen, Thuringia
| education = University of Erfurt
| occupation = {{plainlist|
- Protestant church musician
- Organist
- Composer
- Music theorist
}}
| organization = {{plainlist|
}}
}}
Johann Rudolph (or Rudolf) Ahle (24 December 1625 – 9 July 1673) was a German composer, organist, theorist, and Protestant church musician.
Biography
Ahle was born in Mühlhausen, Thuringia.{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Gerber |first1=Ernst Ludwig |title=Ahle, Johann Rudolph |encyclopedia=Neues historisch-biographisches Lexikon der Tonkünstler |language=de |date=1812}} While not much is known of his early musical training, he attended the grammar school in Göttingen and then studied theology at the University of Erfurt from 1645 to 1649. In 1646 he became cantor at the {{ill|Andreaskirche, Erfurt|de|Andreaskirche (Erfurt)|lt=Andreaskirche}} in Erfurt. In 1648 he published the Compendium per tenellis, a theoretical treatise on choral singing which was reprinted several times during his lifetime and for a last time 50 years later by his son Johann Georg (the last edition appeared in 1704).{{cite book|last=Randel|first=Don|author-link=Don Michael Randel|chapter=Ahle, Johann Rudolph|title=The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music|publisher=Harvard|date=1996|page=8}}
In 1654 Ahle assumed the post of organist at the Divi Blasii in Mühlhausen.{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Eitner |first1=Robert |title=Ahle, Johann Rudolph |encyclopedia=Biographisch-Bibliographisches Quellen-Lexikon der Musiker und Musikgelehrten |language=de |date=1900}} The next year he married Anna Maria Wölfer; their son, Johann Georg Ahle (1651–1706), was also a well-known composer and organist. Ahle was elected a town councillor in Mühlhausen in the 1650s, and was elected mayor shortly before his death in 1673. His immediate successor at the church was his son Johann Georg, and then briefly Johann Sebastian Bach, who worked in Mühlhausen in 1707/08.
Much of Ahle's compositional output consists of sacred choral and vocal works, instrumental music, and organ music. He is best known for motets and sacred concertos (most of them in German, some in Latin) contained in the collection Neu-gepflanzte Thüringische Lust-Garten, in welchem ... Neue Geistliche Musicalische Gewaechse mit 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 und mehr Stimmen auf unterschiedliche Arten mit und ohne Instrument ... versetzet (1657–65). He is also known for hymn melodies, of which three remain in the common German Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch, including "Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier" and "Morgenglanz der Ewigkeit". The melody of the latter was used by Friedrich Dörr for the Advent song "Kündet allen in der Not".
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Uwe Wolf – Programme notes to BIS-CD-821, 1996
- Markus Rathey, Johann Rudolph Ahle. 1625–1673. Lebensweg und Schaffen, Eisenach: Wagner, 1999
- [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Ahle-Johann-Rudolf.htm "Johann Rudolf Ahle (Composer)"], Bach Cantatas website
External links
- {{IMSLP|author=Ahle, Johann Rudolf|cname=Johann Rudolf Ahle}}
- {{ChoralWiki|Johann Rudolf Ahle}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Classical music}}
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Category:German Baroque composers
Category:German classical organists
Category:17th-century German classical composers
Category:German male classical composers