Johann Rudolph Ahle

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Johann Rudolph Ahle (December 24, 1625 – July 9, 1673), was a German composer, organist, theorist, and Protestant church musician.

[edit] Biography

Ahle was born in Mühlhausen, Thuringia. While not much is known of his early musical training, he studied theology at the University of Erfurt from 1645. In 1646 he became cantor at the Church of St. Andrew in Erfurt. In 1648 he published the Compendium per tenellis, a theoretical treatise on choral singing which was reprinted 50 years later in a second edition.

In 1649, Ahle assumed the post of organist at the Church of St. Blasen in Mühlhausen. The next year he married Anna Maria Wölfer; their son, Johann Georg Ahle, was also a well-known composer and organist. He was elected a town councilman in Mühlhausen in the 1650s, and was elected mayor shortly before his death in 1673.

Much of his compositional output consists of sacred choral and vocal works, instrumental music, and a large body of organ music.

[edit] References

• Don Randel, The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Harvard, 1996, p. 8.