Johann Stadlmayr

Stadlmayr first came to the attention of the Salzburg court in 1603 where he was a musician. By 1604 he had acceded to the position of Vice-Kapellmeister and between 1607 and 1618 served as the Kapellmeister for Archduke Maximilian II in Innsbruck. After Maximilian's death, Stadlmayr remained in Innsbruck and by 1624 became the Kapellmeister for Leopold V. Compositions by Stadlmayr included masses, magnificats, psalms and a number of sacred vocal works. He followed the teachings of the Council of Trent, and accordingly, Stadlmayr's music was noted for its textual clarity through his attempt to use normal speech patterns in his predominantly syllabic writing. To give added emphasis to key phrases Stadlmayr would not use melismatic methods but would score the music and the text so that the key phrases were repeated often. His masses and magnificats were characteristically scored for two or three choirs and while his early works were polyphonic the later works incorporated more solo voices with additional instrumentation. ~ Keith Johnson, Rovi