Leonhard Lechner

Lechner led the life of the court and town musician, first as a chorister in Bavaria and shortly after serving as a teacher and 'archimusicus' in Nuremberg. Dissatisfied with the inferior position of assistant schoolmaster, he accepted a position as Kapellmeister for Count Eitelfriedrich IV von Hohenzollern-Hechingen in 1583. A conflict concerning the religious stance of the count, an avid supporter of the Counter-Reformation, and Lechner's Lutheran beliefs caused Lechner to eventually flee the court and take up refuge in Stuttgart. There he rose through the ranks to become Kapellmeister under Duke Friedrich where he remained until his death. A product of The Lassus school, Lechner developed a new kind of German song motet and was the first to set a complete cycle of German poems. The majority of his work is vocal and was widely known in his day. ~ Lynn Vought