- Bartholomäus Aich
Bartholomäus Aich was a South-German organist and composer in the 17th century. Little is known about his life: originally from the village of Uttenweiler near
Biberach an der Riß in Upper Swabia, he was the organist of the Franciscan abbey ofLindau /Lake Constance.His only surviving work is the musical-dramatic festival play "Armamentarium comicum amoris et honoris", written on the occasion of the wedding of Count Maximilian Willibald of
Waldburg-Wolfegg and Clara Isabella Princess ofAarschot and Arenberg that took place in Lindau on December 6th, 1648. "Armamentarium" combined the Jesuit theatre tradition with the Italianmonody of the earlyBaroque music and was performed by pupils of the Lindau Jesuit college on December 8th, 1648. It is one of the earliest surviving examples of anopera tic work performed in Germany.The libretto (by an unknown author) is highly allegorical and focussed on the heraldic symbols that the combined coat of arms of the bridal couple would contain. These allegories are introduced by biblical figures from the Old Testament. Since that custom-made plot was not appropriate for performances beyond the original purpose, the work vanished into oblivion. It was recently rediscovered in the musical collections of the Dukes of Waldburg-Wolfegg and performed at Schloss Wolfegg on September 11th, 2005, by the Hassler-Consort ensemble, conducted by
Franz Raml .References
*"Bartholomäus Aich: Amor et honor". Programme brochure of the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele for the 2005 concert at Schloss Wolfegg. Texts by Johannes Hoyer and Florian Mehltretter.
External links
* [http://www.philso.uni-augsburg.de/lehrstuehle/musikwiss/forschunglehre/landesforschungarchiv/Armamentariumcomicumamorisethonoris/ „Armamentarium comicum amoris et honoris“] , musicologist workshop at the
University of Augsburg , summer term 2005
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