Amandus Ivanschiz: His Life and Music. With a Thematic Catalog of Works

The ensembles associated with monastery and parish churches were a very important element of musical life in Central Europe around the mid-eighteenth century. Yet the music created by early Classical composers, which constituted the core of their repertoire, remains poorly explored. Fr. Amandus Ivanschiz OSPPE (1727–1758) was one of such musicians, active in monasteries in Ranna, Wiener Neustadt, Rome, and Graz. Recent findings reveal that he died in 1758 at the young age of 31, which is much earlier than previously thought. Consequently, the dating of his compositions and their position in the context of the transformation of musical language in the middle of the eighteenth century needs to be revisited.

This volume is the first to provide a critical evaluation of the attribution of works ascribed to Ivanschiz, which brought to light the true scope and reception of his oeuvre. The fact that there are nearly 300 copies of his works preserved in various archives across eleven European countries indicates that his music was readily performed and disseminated, and places Ivanschiz among the most popular monk-composers of his epoch.

(From the Epilogue)