Lorenz Lemlin

For his early music education Lemlin probably received instruction at the Eichstadt cathedral school later receiving a bachelor's degree from Heidelberg University. As a priest he joined the Heidelberg court orchestra and taught the choirboys. Among his students were, what became, the heart of the Heidelberg Liedmeister. For the most part, Lemlin was a limited composer but his students would often come to him for advice. The `song masters' were influenced by him but his own output was quantitatively small. Lemlin would write with a great deal of imitative pairings and an inflexible cantus firmus. "Der Gutzgauch auf dem Zaune sass" was his most popular composition perhps because of its cuckoo imitation and light-hearted quality. Homophony and short phrases in Lemlin's motets demonstrated the influence of humanism (viz., textual import). ~ Keith Johnson