Arnolt Schlick occupation organist
Arnolt Schlick (July 18?, c. 1455–1460 – after 1521) was a German organist, lutenist and composer of the Renaissance. He is grouped among the composers known as the Colorists. He was most probably born in Heidelberg and by 1482 established himself as court organist for the Electorate of the Palatinate. Highly regarded by his superiors and colleagues alike, Schlick played at important historical events, such as the election of Maximilian I as King of the Romans, and was widely sought after as organ consultant throughout his career. The last known references to him are from 1521; the circumstances of his death are unknown.
Schlick was blind for much of his life, possibly from birth. However, that did not stop him from publishing his work. He is best known for Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten (1511), the first German treatise on building and playing organs. This work, highly influential during the 16th century, was republished in 1869 and is regarded today as one of the most important books of its kind. Schlick's surviving compositions include Tabulaturen etlicher lobgesang (1512), a collection of organ and lute music, and a few pieces in manuscript. The lute pieces—mostly settings of popular songs—are among the earliest published; but Schlick's organ music is even more historically important. It features sophisticated cantus firmus techniques, multiple truly independent lines (up to five—and, in one case, ten—voices), and extensive use of imitation. Thus, it predates the advances of Baroque music by about a hundred years, making Schlick one of the most important composers in the history of keyboard music.No documents survive concerning Schlick's apprenticeship. Johannes von Soest and an otherwise unknown "Petrus Organista de Oppenheim" could be his teachers, as could Conrad Paumann, if only for a brief time when he (possibly) visited Heidelberg in 1472. The earliest mention of Schlick's place of employment is in his marriage contract: in 1482 he married Barbara Struplerin, a servant of Elector Philip's sons, and the contract lists him as a court organist. Schlick and his family lived in a house on the Burgweg, a path that led to the Heidelberg Castle (although by 1482 Schlick had already inherited his father's house in Heidelberg).Career
Schlick was apparently held in very great regard by his superiors. By 1509 he was the highest-paid musician at the court with a salary almost twice as high as that of the next-best-paid musician, and comparable to the salary of the court treasurer. Evidently, this position was already established by 1486, when Schlick performed at the election of Archduke Maximilian as King of the Romans at Frankfurt, on February 16 of that year (Schlick may also have performed at Maximilian's coronation six weeks later). It was at this election that Schlick must have first met Paul Hofhaimer. In either 1489 or 1490 (the precise year is uncertain), Schlick travelled to the Netherlands: he alludes to the journey in his preface to Tabulaturen etlicher lobgesang, but his reasons remain obscure. Recent scholarship unearthed evidence of payments to other Electorate of the Palatinate musicians, made by Utrecht authorities, and although no mention of the court travelling to Utrecht in 1489–1490 has been found, it is entirely possible that such a journey did happen. An older version of Schlick's motives was that he went to the Low Countries to escape from the plague which was then ravaging the Heidelberg area.In October 1503 King Philip I of Castile visited Heidelberg, bringing with him a large enoutrage that included the composers Pierre de la Rue and Alexander Agricola, and organist Henry Bredemers. Schlick almost certainly met these musicians, and probably played the organ at the performance of the Mass that took place during Philip's visit. The next known contemporary report that mentions Schlick is from February 23, 1511, when he played at the wedding of Louis V, Elector Palatine and Sibylle of Bavaria. Nothing certain is known about Schlick's other performances. We know that he was present at one of the diets at Worms, either in 1509 or at the famous diet of 1495. The presence of an unnamed Heidelberg court lutenist in Basel in 1509 is documented, and as Schlick was an accomplished lutenist, it might have been him. In 1516, Schlick visited Torgau for unknown reasons; he may have played the organ there, and presumably met Hofaimer again, since the latter was Torgau's court organist at the time.
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