CfP: Johann Melchior Gletle (1626–1683): Beyond Borders. On the 400th Anniversary of His Birth

For the 400th anniversary of the birth of the composer Johann Melchior Gletle (1626–1683), a conference will be held from August 21–23, 2026, in Muri (AG), Switzerland. As a figure having received little scholarly attention to date, Gletle will be discussed and re-evaluated as a key protagonist in early modern musical and cultural history within transregional, institutional, and aesthetic contexts. The symposium will be accompanied by evening concerts featuring music by Gletle and his contemporaries as part of the “Musik in der Klosterkirche” concert series in the former Benedictine Abbey of Muri.

Born in 1626 in Bremgarten, near Zurich, Gletle left his Swiss homeland and served from 1651 until his death as organist and Kapellmeister at the cathedral in the bi-confessional city of Augsburg in Bavarian Swabia—a transregional musician’s biography that transcended confessional and cultural borders. Approximately 220 of Gletle’s sacred and secular compositions survive in seven printed editions and in manuscript sources. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, his music is documented in Bavaria, Central Germany, Saxony, Alsace, Switzerland, Austria, South Tyrol, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Sweden. Moreover, letters by the Jesuit Anton Sepp (1655–1733) attest to its presence in the reductions of the Jesuit province of Paraguay.

 A contemporary assessment of Gletle’s compositions by the French music theorist Sébastien de Brossard (1655–1730), hitherto unnoticed in the scholarship on Gletle, offers promising perspectives on their aesthetic classification: « Sa musique est sage et reguliere et cependant brillante et legere quand il le faut; elle est sçavante, expressive, gracieuse et surtout bien proportionnée aux lieux, aux tems et au vray sens des paroles etca » (Brossard, Catalogue, p. 132). Despite the wide historical dissemination of Gletle’s music and its attested aesthetic value, only about a quarter of his oeuvre has been edited to date.

 The interdisciplinary conference, organized by the University of Geneva, brings together selected researchers (Claudio Bacciagaluppi, Bernardo Illari, David R. M. Irving, Johannes Menke, Christoph Riedo, Maria Schildt) and invites proposals for further contributions. The focus will be on transregional, institutional, and aesthetic perspectives on Gletle’s work and influence. We particularly encourage submissions from early-career researchers. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• New perspectives on Gletle’s biography, especially his connections to the Jesuit Order.
• Catholic sacred music in the Southern German-Swiss region between Roman and Italian influences.
• Southern German Baroque poetry and its musical settings.
• Music transfer between Europe, South America, and beyond: circulation, adaptation, transcultural transformation, and reception of works by Gletle and his circle.
• Music-aesthetic concepts in sacred and secular music of the 17th century.

The conference will take place from August 21–23, 2026, in Muri (AG), Switzerland. Presentations should be 25 minutes long and may be delivered in German or English. Abstracts of up to 250 words accompanied by a short biographical should be sent to cla.mathieu@unige.ch by April 10, 2026. Applicants will be notified of the selection committee’s decision by April 17, 2026.