Fridolin Sicher

Fridolin Sicher (1490-1546) was a Swiss organist and composer. He is notable for compiling a tablature containing intabulations of preexisting vocal music, as well as original works for the organ, mostly by other organists of the Swiss-German Renaissance.

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Biography

Born in Bischofszell, Sicher moved to Konstanz in 1503 to study the organ with Martin Vogelmayer until the following year. Later, in 1512, and again for no more than a year, he studied with Johannes Buchner in that same town. Having joined the Sankt-Gallen abbey in 1516 and left thirteen years later after a raid by local Calvinists, his duties as a scribe and one of the organists included organ accompaniment of Vespers and Compline. A devout Catholic, he fled north to Ensisheim in 1531 to escape the advancing Reformation. At his most productive, during the late 1520s, Sicher simultaneously held posts at St. Gallen, Bischofszell, and Regensberg. Eventually, he moved back to Bischofszell in 1537 and spent the last years of his life there.

Works

Within Sicher's manuscript, only two works are attributed to him, both being organ settings of the Christmas carol Resonet in laudibus. A third composition, titled Mich hat das glück, was in the collection of the Humanist Bonifacius Amerbach of Basel, who was likely well-acquainted with Sicher and his output.

References

Warburton, T. A. (1969). Fridolin Sicher's tablature: A guide to keyboard performance of vocal music Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan.

Apel, W. (1967). Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700. Kassel, Bärenreiter Verlag.