Christoph Demantius

Christoph Demantius (December 15, 1567 – April 20, 1643) was a German composer, music theorist, writer and poet. He was an exact contemporary of Monteverdi, and represented a transitional phase in German Lutheran music from the polyphonic Renaissance style to the early Baroque.

Works

Demantius was a hugely prolific composer, though many of his works have been lost. Stylistically he was a successor to Lassus, who was also working in Germany during the first part of Demantius's life.

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In the realm of sacred music Demantius wrote motets, masses, Magnificat settings, psalm settings, hymns, and a splendid setting of the St. John Passion, one of the most significant passion settings of the late Renaissance. His motets are of a late Renaissance type, and all Lutheran; some are in German and others Latin. They are conservative in that they avoid some of the Italian Baroque innovations such as the concertato style and the basso continuo, both of which were becoming widely used in Germany by 1610; but he also created a highly individual musical language using traditional forms and means, quite distinct from the Palestrinian polyphony adopted by the other composers of the time commonly regarded as "conservative."

Related Topics:
Motet - Mass - Magnificat - Psalm - Hymn - Passion - Passion setting - German - Latin - Italian - Concertato - Basso continuo - Palestrinian - Polyphony

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He also wrote secular music, both vocal and instrumental, including threnodies, dances, epithalamia, and numerous other occasional works. Most likely he wrote the poetry for his own music.

Related Topics:
Threnodies - Epithalamia

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As a music theoretician he is famous for compiling the first dictionary of musical terms in the German language.

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