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Artist
Johann Albrecht Kress
germanbaroque17th century
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Johann Albrecht Kress (German: Johann Albrecht Kreß) (1644 (near Nuremberg) – 23 July 1684, Stuttgart) was a German Baroque composer and vice-Kapellmeister at the Württemberg court in Stuttgart. He entered the Stuttgart Hofkapelle in 1660 as a Musicant und Discantist (treble singer). By 1669 he is listed as an instrumentalist, and by 1676 he appears as Vize-Kapellmeister under Johann Friedrich Magg. Later sources describe him as effectively a director of the Hofkapelle and highly regarded as a composer. His brother Paul Kreß (1635–1694) was also an instrumentalist in the Stuttgart Hofkapelle and a noted viola da gamba player. Works: Musicalische Seelen-Belustigung oder geistliche Concerten (Stuttgart, 1681) – 14 sacred concertos for 4 voices and 6 instruments ad libitum. Der süsse Nahme Jesu oder teutscher Jubilus Bernhardi (Stuttgart, 1681), later expanded with additional instruments in Böddecker’s Manuductio nova (1701). Individual sacred pieces like In te Domine speravi and Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ are cited in inventories and modern scholarship, often featuring viols alongside violins and continuo. He sits stylistically in the post-Schütz South-German Lutheran world: concertato sacred music, German devotional texts, Italianate phrasing, and rich viol writing. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.