Bartholomäus Aich was a South-German organist and composer in the 17th century. Little is known about his life: originally from the village of Uttenweiler near Biberach an der Riß

Biberach an der Riß

Biberach is a town in the south of Germany. It is the capital of Biberach district, in the Upper Swabia region of the German state of Baden-Württemberg...

 in Upper Swabia, he was the organist of the convent of canonesses in Lindau

Lindau

Lindau is a Bavarian town and an island on the eastern side of Lake Constance, the Bodensee. It is the capital of the Landkreis or rural district of Lindau. The historic city of Lindau is located on an island which is connected with the mainland by bridge and railway.- History :The name Lindau was...

/Lake Constance.

His only surviving work is the musical-dramatic festival play Armamentarium comicum amoris et honoris (The Comic Armory of Love and Honor), written on the occasion of the wedding of Count Maximilian Willibald of Waldburg-Wolfegg

Waldburg-Wolfegg

Waldburg-Wolfegg was a County located in southeastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Waldburg-Wolfegg was a partition of Waldburg-Wolfegg-Zeil and was repartitioned in 1667, creating Waldburg-Waldsee, which annexed Waldburg-Wolfegg in 1798....

 and Clara Isabella Princess of Aarschot

Aarschot

Aarschot is a city and municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. The municipality comprises the city of Aarschot proper and the towns of Gelrode, Langdorp and Rillaar. On January 1, 2006 Aarschot had a total population of 27,864...

 and Arenberg, that took place in Lindau on December 6, 1648. Armamentarium combined the Jesuit

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 theatre tradition with the Italian monody

Monody

In poetry, the term monody has become specialized to refer to a poem in which one person laments another's death....

 of the early Baroque period

Baroque music

Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...

 and was performed by pupils of the Lindau Jesuit college on December 8, 1648. It is one of the earliest surviving examples of an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

tic work performed in Germany.

The libretto (by an unknown author) is highly allegorical and focussed on the heraldic symbols that the combined coat of arms of the bridal couple would contain. These allegories are introduced by biblical figures from the Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

. Since that custom-made plot was not appropriate for performances beyond the original purpose, the work vanished into oblivion. It was recently rediscovered in the musical collections of the Dukes of Waldburg-Wolfegg and performed at Schloss Wolfegg on September 11, 2005, by the Hassler-Consort ensemble, conducted by Franz Raml.

External links

• „Armamentarium comicum amoris et honoris“, musicologist workshop at the University of Augsburg
  University of Augsburg
  The University of Augsburg is a university located in the Universitätsviertel section of Augsburg, Germany. It was founded in 1970 and is organized in 7 Faculties....
  
  , summer term 2005 (archived version)