Michael came to Vienna as a child with his father Simon Michael († after 1566); his father was "probably the best mechanic and musician" during the reign of Emperor Ferdinand I (1556-1564) and was listed as a singer in the list of court chapels under Emperor Maximilian II from 1564 to 1566. Rogier presumably spent time as a choirboy in Vienna and in 1564 he joined the court chapel of Archduke Charles II in Graz as a choirboy.
On the recommendation of Emilie of Saxony, the sister of Elector August of Saxony, Michael became a singer and musician at the Dresden court orchestra on 1 February 1575. The Elector listened to him himself, and the old Kapellmeister Antonio Scandello also tested Michael's skills. The composer married in Dresden in 1578, and in the following years they had seven sons Rogier, Tobias, Simon, Samuel, Christian, Georg and Daniel. Samuel Michael, Daniel and Christian all studied under their father and four of the sons later became composers, particularly Tobias, who was kantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig from 1631 to 1657. In the 1580 list of "Cantorey" he is listed as a contralto with an annual salary of 144 gulden. He was also able to sing countertenor, and his voice was described by Friedrich Beurhaus [de] in his writing Erotematum musicae (1591) as quite high and very noble.
When John Georg I of Saxony succeeded to the Electorate in 1611, most of the court orchestra was dismissed before it was then reconstructed without Michael's input. When Elector Johann Georg travelled to Frankfurt with his entourage in 1612 for the election and coronation of Emperor Matthias, Rogier's name was not on the list of fellow travellers.
This was because Michael had been largely relieved of his position as Kapellmeister from 1612 onwards, with a full annual salary of 300 gulden. His immediate successors were Michael Praetorius (1613 and 1614/15), and in 1615 Heinrich Schütz, though Rogier continued to be active at the Saxon court. His salary was temporarily supplemented by funds to support the choir boys who lived with him. There is also evidence of the quarterly payment of 75 gulden on Trinity Sunday 1621.
When Sarah, the composer's second wife, died and was buried in January 1623, the sermon did not mention Michael's death, and the author Burckhard Grossmann mentioned him as being alive in the preface to his publication "Angst der Hellen" (Fear of the Light Ones), published in 1623. In March 1624, however, he was no longer listed as a member of the chapel. From this the music-historical researchers conclude that the composer died after mid-1623.
Works
Despite his many years of activity as a musician at the Dresden court (1575-1612), his complete musical oeuvre is not very extensive. In contrast to his predecessors Scandello and Pinello, known as composers, he cultivated the polyphonicstile antico in sacred music as well as the new Italian madrigal style, which was articulated in short quarter and eighth notes. This style was then largely adopted by his students.
The 53 hymns in the second part of the Dresden hymn book of 1593 are based on simple, homophonies wisely written. In Michael's Introit of 1603, only the antiphon is in five voices on motet tables. The antiphon is set to music in a wise manner, while the accompanying psalm texts appear in four parts in the simple Fauxbourdon movement, after which the antiphon is repeated.
In his two surviving narrative compositions for Immaculate Conception and Christmas, Michael consciously built upon Scandello's St John Passion and Resurrection Story. Michael also composed two passions of his own based on Matthew's Gospel and possibly Luke's Gospel, but both are now lost. In these narrative works, characters' words are set as solos or polyphony depending on their importance, whilst the frame and other inner movements are set polyphonically. In this way, Michael's narrative compositions form an important link between the narrative works of Scandello and of Heinrich Schütz. In an inventory of the Dresden Court Church from 1666, a "Handbuchlein von der Begnis, gebuhrt, Leiden und Auferstehung Jesu Christi in schwarzes Leder gebunden" is listed, which could have served Scandello, Michael and Schütz could all have used as a model for their works' libretti.
Work
Sacred works
Der Gebreuchlichsten und vornembsten Gesenge D. Mart. Luth., Dresden 1593
Visita quaesumus Domine for eight voices, 1596
Te Deum: Herr Gott, dich loben wir for six voices, 1595
2 Passionen, before 1601, lost
teutsche Mess, before 1601, lost
Die Empfängnis and Die Geburt unsers Herren Jesu Christi from one to six voices, 1602
Hochzeitsmusik Drey schöne Stück for six voices, Dresden 1602
Introitus dominicorum dierum ac praecipuorum festorum for five voices, Leipzig 1603
Hochzeitsgesang Purpureum ver flores protulit for twelve voices, 1604
Hochzeitsgesang Freue dich des Weibes deiner Jugend for eight voices, Leipzig 1604
Hochzeitsmusik Illustri Rutae nobile ramum for eight voices, Leipzig 1607
Ich freue mich des, das mir geredt ist fot six voices (without year)
Speculum voluntatis Dei for six voices (without year)
Hochzeitsgesang zu sechs Stimmen, Dresden 1611, lost
Psalm 116 Das ist mir lieb for five voices, in Burckhard Grossmann's Angst der Hellen, Jena 1623
Secular works
Fiamma d’amor for five voices in the anthology Di Alessandro Orologio il secondo libro de madrigali, Dresden 1589
Qualis uvidulis brasilica jugera, Gratulationsgedicht an Johann Georg I. zur Taufe des Kurprinzen Johann Georg II., Dresden 1613
Further reading
O. Kade: Rogier Michael, ein deutscher Tonsetzer des 16. Jahrhunderts. In Monatshefte für Musikgeschichte Nr. 2, 1870, pp. 3–18.
Reinhard Kade: Der Dresdener Kapellmeister Rogier Michael, ca. 1550–1619. In Vierteljahresschrift für Musikwissenschaft, No. 4, Leipzig 1889, pp. 272–289(Rogier Michael is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive).
Joh. Frank: Die Introitus-Kompositionen von Rogier Michael.[4] Dissertation an der Universität Gießen, 1937.
Helmut Federhofer: Jugendjahre und Lehrer Rogier Michaels. In Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, No. 10, 1953, pp. 221–231.
Alfred Baumgartner: Propyläen Welt der Musik – Die Komponisten – Ein Lexikon in fünf Bänden. Volume 4. Propyläen, Berlin 1989, ISBN3-549-07830-7, p. 40.
M. Heinemann: Schütz’ Historienkonzeptionen: zum Projekt einer ›Empfängnishistorie‹ nach Rogier Michael. In Musik und Kirche, No. 64, 1994, pp. 5–10.
Wolfram Steude: Die Dresdner Hofkapelle zwischen Antonio Scandello und Heinrich Schütz (1580–1615). In Hans-Günter Ottenberg, Eberhard Steindorf (ed.): Der Klang der Sächsischen Staatskapelle Dresden. Olms, Hildesheim among others. 2001, ISBN3-487-11454-2, pp. 23–45.
