Daniel Friderici

Friderici did not settle long enough in the early years of his life to study music for an extended period with one teacher; he sang in the cities to which he travelled learning a great deal about motets, madrigals and other song-forms. Friderici gained the opportunity to study under Haussmann And The Magdeburg Kantor Friedrich Weissensee. He finally entered the University in Rostock at the age of 30 and continued his studies and profession as the Kantor of St Marien eventually acceding to the position of Kapellmeister for all the churches in Rostock. "Musica figuralis" was a theoretical work containing methods and practices for singing and how a singer should perform the modes. This treatise went through eight printings, and, like his music, was widely spread. In most of his musical genres, Friderici employed the AABB structure, general homophony with diverse but rare interjections of rhythmic interruptions, polyphony, and sonorous delight. He was well-studied and current in his musical perscriptions indicated by the catalogue of names in his "Amuletum musicum". The list included Brade, Fullsack, Staden, Widmann, Franck, Hassler, and Hausmann. ~ Keith Johnson