Lechthaler, Josef
Lechthaler, Josef
Lechthaler, Josef, Austrian composer and pedagogue; b. Rattenberg, Dec. 31, 1891; d. Vienna, Aug. 21, 1948. He studied philology in Innsbruck and then settled in Vienna, where he was a student of Springer and Goller at the Academy of Music and of Adler at the Univ. (Ph.D., 1919, with the diss. Die kirchenmus: Werke von Uttendal). In 1924 he became a teacher of theory at the Academy of Music, where he later was director of its church and school music dept. (1933-38; 1945-48). He became best known as a composer of church music, principally of 7 masses (1914–37) and a Stabat mater for Soloists, Chorus, Organ, and Orch. (1928). He also wrote choruses, songs, chamber music, and organ pieces.
Bibliography
E. Tittel, J. L (Vienna, 1966).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire