Greiter, Matthaeus or Matthias
Greiter, Matthaeus or Matthias
Greiter, Matthaeus or Matthias, German poet and composer; b. Aichach, Bavaria, c. 1490; d. Stras bourg, Dec. 20, 1550. He was educated at the Univ. of Freiburg im Breisgau. After serving as a monk and cantor at the Strasbourg Minster, he converted to Protestantism in 1524 but remained at the Minster. He also taught music at the Gymnasium Argentinense. In 1546 he was charged with adultery, and was dismissed from his positions. In 1548 he resumed his position at the Gymnasium Argentinense. After reverting to Catholicism in 1549, he resumed his duties at the Minster in 1550 but died later that year of the plague. He wrote the texts and melodies of Psalm-Lieder for Lutheran services, and settings, for 4 voices, of German songs. He also wrote a tract, Elementale musicum inventuti (Strasbourg, 1544). A modern ed. of his works was publ. by H.-C. Möller, Matthaeus Greiter: Samtliche Weltliche Lieder, in Das Chorwerk, LXXXVII (1962).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire