Alberich Mazak, also Alberik Mazák (Ratibor

Ratibor

Ratibor is a Slavic origin male name containing words: "raci/rati" - "war, fight" and "bor" - "fight, warrior" and may refer to:*The German name of Racibórz, Poland*Ratibor...

, 1609 – 9 May 1661) was an Czech-Austrian

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 17th century composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. He was born in Ratibor in Czech family. After studying Music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 and Philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

, he entered Heiligenkreuz Abbey

Heiligenkreuz Abbey

Heiligenkreuz Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in the village of Heiligenkreuz in the southern part of the Vienna woods, c. 13 km north-west of Baden in Lower Austria...

 in 1631 and in 1633 he became a priest.

Works, editions and recordings

He created more than 300 compositions. He wrote mass

Mass

Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...

es, litanies

Litany

A litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Jewish worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions...

, offertories

Offertory

The Offertory is the portion of a Eucharistic service when bread and wine are brought to the altar. The offertory exists in many liturgical Christian denominations, though the Eucharistic theology varies among celebrations conducted by these denominations....

, antiphon

Antiphon

An antiphon in Christian music and ritual, is a "responsory" by a choir or congregation, usually in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or other text in a religious service or musical work....

s, psalms and sacred cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

s. The instruments he used most were the violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

, the trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

, the bassoon

Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...

, the viola da gamba, the cornet

Cornet

The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...

 and the sackbut

Sackbut

The sackbut is a trombone from the Renaissance and Baroque eras, i.e., a musical instrument in the brass family similar to the trumpet except characterised by a telescopic slide with which the player varies the length of the tube to change pitches, thus allowing them to obtain chromaticism, as...

. His compositions, predominantly motets

Motet

In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...

, collected under the titled Cultus harmonicus, were published by him in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Opus I in 1649, Opus Minus (II) in 1650 and Opus Maius (III) in 1653. Last one is missing today.

• Baroque Vespers at Stift Heiligenkreuz - Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, Wieninger Oehms Classics C826
• De Profundis re Bassi Carpe Diem CD-16274

A baroque lute built in 1631, which had been played at Mazak's ordination

Ordination

In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...

, was used in the recording of Wolf Erichson's Stift Heiligenkreuz Geistliche Musik (Sacred Music from Holy Cross Monastery), directed by Niederaltaicher Scholaren and Dr. Konrad Ruhland

Konrad Ruhland

Dr. Konrad Ruhland was a German musicologist. He was born in Landau am Inn He studied history, medieval Latin, theology, and liturgical history which helped him to gain extensive background knowledge for his musicological research...

 and published by Sony Music under the SEON

Seon

Seon may refer to:* Seon, Switzerland, a municipality in the canton of Aargau* Seon, a type of arranged marriage in South Korea* Seon, a Zen school of Korean Buddhism* Seon , steamed vegetable dishes with fillings in Korean cuisine...

label (1970–1980).