Johann Rudolph Ahle

Johann Rudolph Ahle [Also known as Johann Rudolf Ahle.] (December 24, 1625 – July 9, 1673), was a German composer, organist, theorist, and Protestant church musician.

Biography

Ahle was born in Mühlhausen, Thuringia. While not much is known of his early musical training, he studied at the grammar school in Göttingen and then studied theology at the University of Erfurt from 1645 to 1649. In 1646 he became cantor at the Church of St. Andrew in Erfurt. In 1648 he published the "Compendium per tenellis", a theoretical treatise on choral singing which was reprinted 50 years later in a second edition.

In 1654 Ahle assumed the post of organist at the Church of St. Blasen/Blasius in Mühlhausen. The next year he married Anna Maria Wölfer; their son, Johann Georg Ahle, was also a well-known composer and organist. He was elected a town councilman in Mühlhausen in the 1650s, and was elected mayor shortly before his death in 1673. His immediate successor at St. Blasen/Blasius was his son Georg Ahle (1651-1706), and then briefly Johann Sebastian Bach, who was in Mühlhausen 1707/08.

Much of his compositional output consists of sacred choral and vocal works, instrumental music, and organ music. He is best known for sacred concertos (most of them in German, some in Latin) contained in "Neu-gepflanzte Thüringische Lust-Garten, in welchem... Neue Geistliche Musicalische Gewaechse mit 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 und mehr Stimmen auf unterschiedliche Arten mit und ohne Instrument ... versetzet" (1657-65). He is also known for hymn melodies, of which three remain in the "Evangelical Hymn Book." He also wrote the musical treatise "Compendium Musices," with several editions from 1648 to 1704.

References and footnotes

ources

*Don Randel, "The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music". Harvard, 1996, p. 8.
*Uwe Wolf - Programme notes to BIS-CD-821, 1996
*http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Ahle-Johann-Rudolf.htm