Speer: Sonata for 5 brass instruments No. 16 Brass Ensemble - Digital Sheet Music

This edition of Sonata No. 16 from Recens Fabricatus Labor includes substitute parts for the modern brass quintet, making the work accessible to contemporary performers.

Georg Daniel Speer (2 July 1636, Breslau—5 October 1707, Göppingen) was a German Baroque composer, music theorist, and writer. Born in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland), Speer studied at the Maria Magdalenen Gymnasium before traveling extensively throughout southeastern Europe, gaining valuable practical experience as a musician.Speer held various musical and educational posts throughout his career. From 1664 to 1666, he served as a church musician in Stuttgart, followed by positions as schoolteacher and church musician in Göppingen (1667–68). He later worked in Grossbottwar and Leonberg near Stuttgart before settling permanently in Göppingen in 1673 as a teacher at the Lateinschule. In 1694, he returned there as Kollaborator and was eventually appointed Kantor.As a composer, Speer is particularly noted for his music for brass instruments—especially trombones—as well as for surviving keyboard miniatures. His instrumental works had a lasting influence on German Baroque trombone repertoire for more than a century. He is perhaps best known today for Sonata No. 29 from Die Bänkelsängerlieder, a piece frequently performed by brass ensembles at weddings and ceremonial occasions. Speer was also an influential writer. His 1687 musical treatise remains an important source for understanding Middle Baroque performance practice. His political writings, however, led to conflict with the authorities; a pamphlet criticizing the Württemberg government’s inadequate response to the French invasion resulted in his arrest and imprisonment for eighteen months at Hohenneuffen Fortress. After his release, he was briefly exiled to Waiblingen before returning to Göppingen.In addition to theoretical and political works, Speer wrote several autobiographical novels under the pseudonym Daniel Simplex. These humorous and insightful narratives offer a vivid picture of 17th-century musical life. Though largely forgotten for many years, his literary works were rediscovered in the 1930s.Speer also composed sacred vocal music and several notable quodlibet collections, including Recens Fabricatus Labor (1685) and further collections from 1687 and 1688. His legacy endures through both his compositions and his writings, which together provide a rich portrait of Baroque musical culture in southern Germany.This edition of Sonata No. 16 from Recens Fabricatus Labor includes substitute parts for the modern brass quintet, making the work accessible to contemporary performers.