Augustin Pfleger

Augustin Pfleger (Schlackenwerth, near Carlsbad, now Karlovy Vary, c. 1635 – Schlackenwerth, after 23 July 1686) was a German composer born in Bohemia whose sacred output occupies a place in the transition from the Italianate motet to the sacred cantata in German. The date of his death is not known precisely, as it can only be placed after 1686.

His career unfolded at several courts in northern and central Europe. By around 1661, when he published his Opus 1, he was already serving as Kapellmeister to Duke Julius Henry at Schlackenwerth, the Bohemian residence of the Dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg. In 1662 he moved to Güstrow as deputy Kapellmeister to Duke Gustav Adolf of Mecklenburg, where he composed a remarkable quantity of sacred music; in 1664 alone, 89 sacred concertos are attributed to him. In 1665 he was appointed Kapellmeister at the court of Schleswig-Holstein in Gottorf and entrusted with the ceremonial music for the inauguration of the University of Kiel. He left that post on 16 May 1673, and his subsequent whereabouts are unknown; he was succeeded by Johann Theile. By July 1686 he had returned to Schlackenwerth and was once again serving as Kapellmeister of Saxe-Lauenburg.

His Opus 1 brings together eighteen short pieces on Latin texts, mostly biblical, written for a small vocal ensemble with little instrumental participation beyond the basso continuo, and largely modelled on Italian examples. The Latin odes composed for Kiel have a rigid, ceremonial character, while the two that use German texts point towards a more advanced idiom, with affinities to some of Buxtehude's aria cantatas. The works preserved in manuscript were probably composed in Gottorf, where his writing becomes richer: more instruments, more counterpoint and non-biblical, devotional or mixed texts.

The cycle of 72 cantatas for the liturgical year, dedicated to the council of the city of Flensburg, perhaps also belongs to these Gottorf years. Many are dramatic dialogues with allegorical and biblical characters, and they skilfully combine passages of Scripture, strophic poetry and occasional chorales, alternating arioso, concertato and aria styles.

The French lexicographer Sébastien de Brossard owned a copy of his Opus 1 and considered it one of the finest of its time. His legacy rests above all on these later works on composed texts, which contributed significantly to the development of the German sacred cantata.