Johann Heinrich Herwart

Johann Heinrich Herwart (Augsburg, 1520 – Augsburg, 28 July 1583) was a German music collector from one of the oldest patrician families of his native city. His significance lies less in composition than in building up musical holdings that ended up in the hands of the Bavarian court.

The son of Georg Herwart, who became mayor of Augsburg, he held judicial posts and took part in the city's upper and lower councils, which placed him among the most influential men in local public life. Together with his brother Johann Paul, he built up a considerable fortune through large-scale commercial and banking ventures, partly in partnership with the Habsburgs and with Anton Fugger. In 1548 the brothers, together with another brother, Johann Jakob, were granted noble titles.

Part of this wealth was devoted to acquiring works of art, books and musical material. After his death, his collections passed to Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria in 1585 and 1594, and included more than 400 pieces, both printed and manuscript, which form the core of the holdings now kept in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich. Likewise, a songbook bearing the ex libris of Hans Heinrich Herwart, begun in 1458 and completed in 1513 by the Augsburg town piper Jakob von Hurlach, brings together 80 sacred and secular songs by Hofhaimer, Senfl, Heinrich Finck and others, and is today in Augsburg.