| Valentin Rathgeber (1682 - 1750)  Germany Johann Valentin Rathgeber (3 April 1682, Oberelsbach ? 2 June 1750, Banz Abbey) was a German composer, organist and choirmaster of the Baroque Era.
His father, an organist, gave him his first music lessons. At the beginning of the 18th century, he began studying at the University of Würzburg, initially studying rhetorics, mathematics and law; later he changed direction and continued his studies in theology.
His first position was as a teacher at the Julius Hospital in Würzburg. In 1707 he took up the post of chamber musician and servant of the abbot of the Banz Abbey, Kilian Düring. A short time later he joined the Benedictine Order, and in 1711 entered the priesthood. Thereafter, he was organist, choirmaster and preacher at the abbey.
He requested permission from the abbot to undertake a study trip, but was turned down. Despite this, he went anyway, and between 1729 and 1738 visited much of the familiar musical territory.
Documented stops on this trip were Mainz, Bonn, Cologne, Trier, Stuttgart, Regensburg, Germany, Switzerland, Vienna and Styria. Compositions from this period were primarily dedicated to his respective hosts. In 1738 he returned to the abbey, where as a result of his illegal departure he was temporarily imprisoned in his cell. A short time later, he was allowed to regain his former office. He lived in the Banz Abbey until his death, which was attributed to gout.
Valentin Rathgeber was a very versatile and productive composer and was one of the most popular and respected composers in southern Germany. He composed both secular and sacred works, the majority of his output being sacred vocal works. He wrote several hundred works, mainly masses (43), hymns, arias, litanies, requiems, magnificats, offertories (164), Marian antiphones (44) and also instrumental concertos (24) and songs. His Augsburger Tafel-Confect, short for Ohren-vergnügendes und Gemüth-ergötzendes Tafel-Confect (Augsburg Table Confectionery, short for Table Confectionery, Pleasuring the Ears and Delightful to the Soul) is a collection of songs meant to be performed for dessert, whereas a Tafelmusik was performed during a main course. He published three editions of his work in 1733, 1737 and 1739, Johann Caspar Seyfert adding a fourth in 1746.
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