Sethus Calvisius

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Sethus Calvisius or Setho Calvisio, originally Seth Kalwitz (21 February 1556 – 24 November 1615), was a German music theorist, composer, chronologer, astronomer, and teacher of the late Renaissance.

Biography

He was born into a peasant family at Gorsleben in present-day Thuringia. By the exercise of his musical talents he earned money enough for the start, at Helmstedt, of a university career, which the aid of a wealthy patron enabled him to continue at Leipzig. He became director of the music-school at Pforta in 1572. In 1594 he was transferred to Leipzig in the same post, including directing the Thomanerchor at the Thomaskirche.Motette in der Thomaskirche. Sonnabend, den 20 September 2008. Leipzig: Merkur. He retained this post until his death in Leipzig, despite the offers successively made to him of mathematical professorships at Frankfurt and Wittenberg.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Calvisius was also a significant astronomer: in his Opus Chronologicum (Leipzig, 1605, 7th ed. 1685) he expounded a system based on the records of nearly 300 eclipses. An ingenious, though ineffective, proposal for the reform of the calendar was put forward in his Elenchus Calendarii Gregoriani (Frankfurt, 1612); and he published a book on music, Melodiae condendae ratio (Erfurt, 1592).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He composed choral pieces including Unser Leben währet siebzig Jahr.

Works

Harmonia cantionum ecclesiasticarum, Kirchengesänge u. geistliche Lieder D. Lutheri u. andrer frommen Christen, Mit 4 Stimmen contrapunktweise richtig gesetzt. Leipzig 1597, 1598, 1604, 1612 and 1622
Melopoiia sive melodiae condendae ratio. Erfurt 1592 and 1630
Compendium musicae practicae. Leipzig 1594, also published in 1612 as Musicae artis praecepta
Exercitatio musica tertia. Leipzig 1611
Exercitationes musicae duae. Leipzig 1600
Hymni sacri Latini et Germanici. Erfurt 1594
Der Psalter Davids., Cornelius Becker (ed.), Leipzig 1605
Der 150. Psalm Davids. Leipzig 1615
Opus chronologicum ex autoritate s. scripturae ad motum luminarium coelestium contextum. Leipzig 1605 (first edition), Frankfurt 1685 (6th edition)
Elenchus calendarii Gregoriani. Leipzig 1613
Formula calendarii novi. Leipzig 1613
Thesaurus latini sermonis. Leipzig 1614
Enchiridion lexici Latino-Germanici. Leipzig 1614
Tricinia, Auserlesene deutsche Lieder., Paul Rubardt (ed.), 1949
10 Motetten, Albrecht Tunger (ed.), 1965.
[http://imslp.org/wiki/Biciniorum_(Calvisius,_Seth) Biciniorum libri duo, Leipzig 1612]