HAMMERSCHMIDT, ANDREAS

born 1611/12, Brx, Bohemia [now Most, Czech Republic] died Nov. 8, 1675 Austro-Bohemian composer from whose work were taken most of the chorale tunes used in the Lutheran service of worship. Nothing is known of his early life, but in 1633 he was in the service of Count Rudolf von Bnau. In 1633 Hammerschmidt was organist at the Peterskirche in Freiberg, and four years later he moved to Zittau, becoming organist at the Johanneskirche, where he stayed for the remaining 40 years of his life. As a composer, he left a large output that is important in the history of Lutheran music. In form, his cantatas foreshadow those of the 18th century, although they show little variety in mood or treatment. His sources are mainly the chorales and the German Bible. His works include 17 Lutheran masses (consisting only of the Kyrie and the Gloria); a collection of madrigals for unaccompanied singers, Geistliche Madrigalien (Sacred Madrigals); a set of sacred symphonies for one or two voices with strings and continuo; and a book of secular songs, Weltliche Oden (Worldly Odes).