Adam von Fulda
Adam von Fulda
Adam von Fulda, German music theorist and composer; b. Fulda, c. 1442; d. Wittenberg, 1505. He was at the Benedictine monastery in Vormbach until about 1490 when he was compelled to leave upon his marriage. He then entered the service of Friedrich the Wise of Saxony as a singer, later becoming his historiographer in 1492 and his Kapellmeister in 1498. In 1502 he became prof. of music at the Univ. of Wittenberg. He was the author of the valuable treatise De musica (1490; publ. in M. Gerbert, Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra potissimum, 3 vols., 1784). He also wrote a history of Saxony (1504), which was left unfinished at his death from the plague. It was completed by Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Würzburg. He also wrote religious verse that appeared posthumously as Ein sehr andechtig christenlich Buchlein (1512). Among his compositions were a Mass, a Magnificat, 7 hymns, 2 antiphons, a respond, and songs.
Bibliography
W. Ehmann, A. v. F. als Vertreter der ersten deutschen Komponistengeneration (Berlin, 1936).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire