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Johann Melchior Gletle (1626-1683): Conference and concerts on the 400th anniversary of his birth

Born in Bremgarten/AG, Johann Melchior Gletle spent most of his life working as a cathedral choirmaster in Augsburg. From 21 to 23 August 2026, Gletle will be the focus of an interdisciplinary conference and several concerts in the «Music in the Abbey Church» series in Muri/AG.

Christoph Riedo (translation: AI)  - 04 Jun 2026
The French music theorist Sébastien de Brossard (1655–1730), who owned copies of Gletle’s Op. 1, 2, and 6 in his library and who arranged some of Gletle’s works himself, spoke very highly of the Augsburg cathedral Kapellmeister. In the handwritten catalog of his music collection, which he later bequeathed to the «Bibliothèque du Roy,» he characterized Gletle with the words: «One might say that here lies the Prince of the leading figures among modern musicians, especially those from Germany. His music is wise and regular, yet brilliant and light when necessary; it is learned, expressive, graceful, and above all well-suited to the places, the times, and the true meaning of the words, etc.» This testimony remained unknown to Hans Peter Schanzlin and Adolf Layer, who were the last to study Gletle in depth in the late 1950s.
It was not until the edition of Op. 5 by Peter and Silija Reidemeister (2015, series «Editions of the Swiss Society for Music Research») and its first recording by Musica Fiorita under the direction of Daniela Dolci made it clear that Gletle’s oeuvre contains music of considerable aesthetic merit. Nevertheless, a comprehensive reassessment of Brossard’s judgment remains limited to this day, as the vast majority of the approximately 220 surviving compositions remain unedited. Against this backdrop, musicology students at the University of Geneva began in 2025 to transcribe selected compositions from Gletle’s body of work, which comprises a total of seven operas. The newly transcribed musical text serves both as performance material and as a starting point for an in-depth examination of Gletle’s musical language. The first part of Op. 6, edited by Raphael Eccel, Cla Mathieu, and Christoph Riedo, will be published later this year.

Reception and global interdependencies

Even beyond the narrower focus of musical aesthetics, a scholarly examination of this composer, who was active in the Free Imperial City of Augsburg—a city governed by equal representation—is long overdue. His significance and position within early modern musical circulation deserve a more precise historical classification within the cultural-historical context of the 17th century. Based on historical inventories and other sources such as invoices and catalogs, it can be demonstrated that Gletle’s music was received in the 17th and early 18th centuries far beyond the Catholic world and found circulation in Central Germany, Saxony, Alsace, Switzerland, Austria, South Tyrol, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Sweden.
Particularly revealing in this context are the letters of Anton Sepp (1655–1733), a missionary active in the Jesuit Province of Paraguay, which both document his desire to have Gletle’s Catholic church music transmitted to the reductions, as well as the fact that at least Op. 6 actually arrived there. The example of Gletle, who despite his work in Augsburg remained a citizen of Bremgarten throughout his life and remained connected to his homeland, shows that musical culture in the 17th century can only be properly understood within transregional and global contexts.

Information about the conference

August 21–23, 2026, Muri/AG, former Benedictine monastery, Singisen HallInterdisciplinary conference with concerts

Johann Melchior Gletle (1626-1683): A musician between cultures. On the 400th birthday of the composer

The conference is open to the public.

www.unige.ch/lettres/armus/unites/music/evenements/colloques/johann-melchior-gletle-1626-1683-au-dela-des-frontieres

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