Martin Gerbert
Martin Gerbert (11 August 1720 – 3 May 1793), was a German theologian, historian and writer on music, belonged to the noble family of Gerbert von Hornau, and was born at Horb am Neckar, Württemberg, on 12 (or 11 or 13) August 1720.
Life
He was educated at Freiburg im Breisgau, at Klingnau in Switzerland and at the Benedictine St. Blaise's Abbey in the Black Forest, where in 1737 he took the vows. In 1744 he was ordained priest, and immediately afterwards appointed professor, first of philosophy and later of theology. Between 1754 and 1764 he published a series of theological treatises, their main tendency being to modify the rigid scholastic system by an appeal to the Fathers, notably Augustine; from 1759 to 1762 he travelled in Germany, Italy and France, mainly with a view to examining the collections of documents in the various monastic libraries. In 1764 he was elected prince-abbot of St Blaise's, and proved himself a model ruler both as abbot and prince.
His examination of archives during his travels had awakened in him a taste for historical research, and under his rule St. Blaise's became a notable centre of the methodical study of history; it was here that Marquard Herrgott wrote his Monumenta domus Austriacae, of which the first two volumes were edited, for the second edition, by Gerbert, who also published a Codex epistolaris Rudolphi I., Romani regis (1772) and De Rudolpho Suevico comite de Rhinfelden, duce et rege, deque ejus familia (1785) (cf. Rudolf of Rheinfelden).
It was, however, in sacramental theology, liturgiology, and notably ecclesiastical music that Gerbert was mainly interested. In 1774 he published two volumes De cantu et musica sacra; in 1777, Monumenta veteris liturgiae Alemannicae; and in 1784, in three volumes, Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra, a collection of the principal writers on church music from the 3rd century till the invention of printing. The materials for this work he had gathered during his travels, and although it contains many textual errors, its publication has been of great importance for the history of music, by preserving writings which might either have perished or remained unknown. His interest in music led to his acquaintance with the composer Gluck, who became his intimate friend.
As a prince of the Empire Gerbert was devoted to the interests of the house of Austria; as a Benedictine abbot he was opposed to Emperor Joseph II's church policy. In the Febronian controversy he had early taken a mediating attitude, and it was largely due to his influence that Bishop Hontheim had been induced to retract his extreme views. In 1768 St. Blaise's abbey, with the library and church, was burnt to the ground, and the splendid new church which rose on the ruins of the old (1783) remained until its destruction by fire in 1874, at once a monument of Gerbert's taste in architecture and of his Habsburg sympathies.
It was at his request that it was made the mausoleum of all the Austrian princes buried outside Austria, whose remains were solemnly transferred to its vaults. In connexion with its consecration he published his Historia Nigrae Silvae, ordinis S. Benedicti coloniae (3 vols, St Blasien, 1783). Gerbert, who was beloved and respected by Catholics and Protestants alike, died in St. Blasien on 3 May 1793.
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Martin Gerbert, Prince-Abbot of Saint-Blaise, liturgist and musical writer; b. at Horb-on-the-Neckar, in the Black Forest, August 12, 1720, by birth being entitled Baron von Hornau; d. in his monastery of Saint-Blaise, May 13, 1793. He studied the humanities successively at Ehingen, Suabia, at Freiburgiln-Breisgau and at Klingenau, and philosophy and theology at the Abbey of Saint-Blaise, whose prince-abbot remarked his talents and undertook the direction of his studies, having in mind to make him his successor. Having entered at Saint-Blaise in 1736, he was ordained priest in 1744, and was almost immediately appointed professor of philosophy and theology. Besides, he fulfilled the duties of librarian. His first researches in liturgy and music date from this time. In 1760, in the course of a sojourn in France and Italy, he made the acquaintance at Bologna of Martini, who was collecting materials for his "Histoire generale de la musique" and to whom he made known his own discoveries. Gerbert states that he was much surprised to learn of the existence of so extensive a literature on a special subject, but that his own studies led to the knowledge of many other works which he made known to Martini, with whom he kept up a correspondence.
In 1762 Gerbert announced through a prospectus his intention of writing a history of church music, and he labored unceasingly at this task, despite the cares imposed upon him by the administration of the Abbey of Saint-Blaise, of which he was named prince-abbot in 1764. The first volume was completed and the second much advanced when a fire destroyed the church, the library and a part of the manuscripts of Saint-Blaise (1768). Gerbert set to work once more, and the work appeared in 1774. The researches made necessary by the preparation had brought about the discovery of a number of manuscripts of the Middle Ages. Gerbert published more than forty of them in his "Scriptores de musica" (1784). Between whiles he published various writings, some of which are still of real importance, such as the "Iter Alemannicum",—in which, like Mabillon, Montfaucon, and Martene, he shares with us the treasures he has discovered in the libraries of Germany, France, and Italy—and useful works on Rudolph I and the house of Hapsburg, on the history of Sweden, and on the ancient liturgy of Germany.
List of works: "Martini Gerberti et Remigii Kleesati XXIV Offertoria Solemnia in festis Domini, B. V. M. et SS. opus I" (in fol. Augsburg, 1747); Apparatus ad eruditionem theologicam (Saint-Blaise), 1754; Iter Alemannicum, accedit Italicum et Gallicum (8°, Saint-Blaise, 1765); "Pinacotheca principum Austriae" (1768); "Codex epistolaris Rudolphi I Romanorum regis" (Saint-Blaise, 1772); "De Cantu et Musica Saera a prima ecclesiae tate usque ad praesens ternpus" (2 vols. 4°, Saint-Blaise, 1774); "Taphographia principum Austrian, monumentorum domus Austriaca tomus IV et ultimus" (2 vols. in fol., 1772); "Vetus liturgia Alemannica, disquisionibus praeviis, notis et observationibus illustrata" (2 vols. 4°, Saint-Blaise, 1776); "Monumenta veteris liturgiae Alemannicae ex antiquis manuscriptis codicibus" (2 vols. 4°, Saint-Blaise, 1777-79); "Historia Silvae Nigrae" (3 vols. 4°, 1783); "Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra" (3 vols. 4°, Saint-Blaise, 1784); "De Rudolpho suevico comite de Rhinfelden, duce, rege, deque ejus inlustri familia" (4°, Saint-Blaise, 1785); "Observationes in Bertholdi seu Bernoldi, Constantiniensis presbyteri opuscula" (in the "Mon. res Aleman. illust." of Uffermann, 2 vols., 1792); "De sublimi in evangelio Christi juxta divinam Verbi incarnati aeconomiam (8°, 1793).
Bibliography
- Joseph Bader, Das ehemalige Kloster St Blasien and seine Gelehrtenakademie (Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1874), contains a chronological list of Gerbert's works.