Valentin Rathgeber

Johann Valentin Rathgeber (3 April 1682 – 2 June 1750) was a German composer, organist and choirmaster of the Baroque Era.

Life

Rathgeber was born in Oberelsbach. His father, an organist, gave him his first music lessons. At the beginning of the 18th century, he began studying at the University of Würzburg, initially studying rhetoric, mathematics and law; later he changed direction and continued his studies in theology.

His first position was as a teacher at the Julius Hospital in Würzburg. In 1707 he took up the post of chamber musician and servant of the abbot of the Banz Abbey, Kilian Düring.

Worklist (selection)

Augsburger Tafel-Confect Opus I Octava musica clavium octo musicarum in Missis octo musicalibus (mass compositions) Opus II (vespers) Opus III (masses) Opus IV (offertories with instrumental accompaniment) Opus V (antiphons for the church year) Opus VI (secular instrumental works) Opus VII (masses for the church year) Opus VIII (requiem and Libera) Opus IX Psalmodia vespertina (vespers cycle) Opus X (Latin and German arias) Opus XI (hymns) Opus XII (rural and town masses) Opus XIII (Miserere and Tantum ergo) Opus XIV (offertories cycle in 3 parts) Opus XV (offertories) Opus XVI (antiphons) Opus XVII (vesper cycle) Opus XVIII (litanies) Opus XIX (masses) Opus XX (offertories)

Recordings Messe von Muri, Concerti. Capella Murensis, ensemble arcimboldo, Direction: Johannes Strobl / Thilo Hirsch. Audite, 2007.