Editing Conrad Paumann

{{Short description|German organist, lutenist and composer}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| background        = person
| honorific_prefix  = 
| name              = Conrad Paumann
| honorific_suffix  = 
| image             = Conrad Paumann by Heinrich Eduard von Wintter.jpg
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| caption           = Paumann (later 19th? century engraving)
| native_name       = 
| native_name_lang  = 
| birth_name        = <!-- leave empty if the same "name" -->
| alias             = 
| birth_date        = {{circa|1410}}
| birth_place       = [[Nuremberg]], Germany
| origin            = 
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1473|01|24|1410}}
| death_place       = 
| genre             = [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]]
| occupation        = Instrumentalist, composer
| instrument        = [[Pipe organ]], [[lute]]
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| spouse            = <!-- Use article title or common name -->
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'''Conrad Paumann''' (c. 1410{{spaced ndash}}January 24, 1473) was a German [[organ (music)|organist]], [[lute]]nist and [[composer]] of the early [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]]. Born blind, he became one of the most talented musicians of the 15th century, and his performances created a sensation wherever he went. He is grouped among the composers known as the [[Colorists (music)|Colorists]].

==Life==
He was born in [[Nuremberg]] to a family of craftsmen. His musical ability must have become apparent early, for he received an excellent training with the support of aristocratic patrons. In 1447 he became the official town organist of Nuremberg, and the councilors even issued orders for him not to leave without their permission.

As rebellious as he was talented, Paumann left what was probably a stifling environment, traveling secretly to [[Munich]] in 1450 where he was immediately employed by [[Albert III, Duke of Bavaria|Duke Albrecht III]] as court organist, who also gave him a house. Munich was officially his home for the remainder of his life, although he began to travel extensively.

While exact records of his travels do not remain, they were clearly extensive, and everywhere he went he was greeted with astonishment; his renown as a performer and composer grew. [[Milan]] and [[Naples]] both made him attractive job offers. His travels in [[Italy]] were probably around 1470, when the Milanese [[Sforza]] family was beginning to build their chapel into the most impressive singing and composition establishment in Europe: [[Josquin des Prez]], [[Loyset Compère]], [[Alexander Agricola]] and others were all there; some of them may have heard him play, and may have exchanged musical ideas with him.  In [[Mantua]] he was knighted; in [[Landshut]] he performed for the Burgundian duke [[Philip the Good]]; in [[Ratisbon]] he performed for [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Frederick III]]. During this time he also had numerous students. Unquestionably his influence had much to do with the subsequent development of a culture of organ-playing and composition in Germany, a tradition which culminated in the 18th century with the work of [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J.S. Bach]].

[[File:Paumann Epitaph.jpg|thumb|Relief of Paumann with the epitaph]]
Paumann's epitaph in the [[Munich Frauenkirche]] reads:  
{{cquote|Anno 1473, on the evening of St. Paul's conversion died and was here buried the most ingenious master of all instruments and music, Cunrad Pauman [sic], knight, born blind at Nuremberg, God have mercy upon him.<ref>"Conrad Paumann", in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie.  20 vol.  London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.  {{ISBN|1-56159-174-2}}</ref>}}

Paumann's gift, his disability, his instrument, and his influence are all reminiscent of [[Francesco Landini]], the great [[Italy|Italian]] composer of a hundred years before.

==Music and influence==
Paumann, being blind, never wrote down his music, and may have been an [[improvisation|improvisor]] above all. He has been credited with inventing the system of [[tablature]] for the lute in Germany; while it cannot be proven, it seems reasonable both because of Paumann's influence, and because of the ease with which music can be dictated using tablature.

Most of his music is instrumental, and some of it considerably virtuosic. Only one vocal composition survives, a ''[[tenorlied]]'' ''Wiplich figur'' for three voices; stylistically it is so close to the contemporary [[Dutch School (music)|Franco-Flemish]] idiom that it follows that Paumann knew the music of the Franco-Flemish composers. Most likely he encountered it on his travels, for instance when he went to Milan.

His ''Fundamentum organisandi'' of 1452, an instruction manual for improvisation, was combined with the [[Lochamer-Liederbuch]] of approximately the same date; the double source is housed in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*[[Gustave Reese]], ''Music in the Renaissance''.  New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954.  {{ISBN|0-393-09530-4}}
*Harold Gleason and Warren Becker, ''Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance'' (Music Literature Outlines Series I). Bloomington, Indiana.  Frangipani Press, 1986.  {{ISBN|0-89917-034-X}}
* Kimberly Marshall, ''Historical Organ Techniques and Repertoire, Vol. 3: Late-Medieval''. Colfax, North Carolina. Wayne Leupold Editions, 2000.

==External links==
*{{IMSLP|Paumann, Conrad|Conrad Paumann}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paumann, Conrad}}
[[Category:Blind musicians]]
[[Category:German blind people]]
[[Category:German Renaissance composers]]
[[Category:German classical organists]]
[[Category:1410s births]]
[[Category:1473 deaths]]
[[Category:Musicians from Nuremberg]]
[[Category:Burials at Munich Frauenkirche]]
[[Category:German male classical composers]]
[[Category:German male classical organists]]