Surname
Birckherr
Given Name
Caspar
Variant Name
Birgkhner
Byrckherr
Burckher
Pirckher
Role
Basse contre
Bassus
Employee of a court chapel (musician)
Known voice range
Musician
Singer
Active period
1496 - 1538
Workplace
Innsbruck
Institution
Capella imperialis (Imperium Romanum Sacrum)
Biography
Konstanz, cathedral. ?-1496. Birckherr’s 1530 petition to emperor Ferdinand mentions that he had come into the imperial service from the choir at Konstanz (vom Stifft vnd Chor zu Constentz).
Innsbruck, Imperial chapel, 1496-1520. Listed as one of the six Bassisten of the Imperial chapel in the household inventory made in January 1519, soon after the death of Maximilian I (19 January 1519), and in the list made in January 1520, soon before the dissolution of the chapel. He had a Provisionsbrief of 50 Gulden for the Vizedomamt at Wels and an annuity of fifty Gulden from Maximilian and confirmed by Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521, but subsequently he, like Ludwig Senfl,* found the Ferdinand unwilling to honour this payment. In 1530 he and Senfl submitted a joint petition to Ferdinand for the payment of their outstanding payments; this document mentions that they had both served in the chapel for twenty-three years, i.e. from 1496. They made another joint supplication in 1538, but apparently again without success.
Fellner and Kretschmayer 1907, p. 145; Hirzel 1908, p. 153; Koczirz 1931, p. 532, 538-540 (from Registratur de anno 1519 bis 1520, Vienna, Hofkammerarchiv Sign. 46 [olim D 131]).
Innsbruck, Imperial chapel, 1496-1520. Listed as one of the six Bassisten of the Imperial chapel in the household inventory made in January 1519, soon after the death of Maximilian I (19 January 1519), and in the list made in January 1520, soon before the dissolution of the chapel. He had a Provisionsbrief of 50 Gulden for the Vizedomamt at Wels and an annuity of fifty Gulden from Maximilian and confirmed by Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521, but subsequently he, like Ludwig Senfl,* found the Ferdinand unwilling to honour this payment. In 1530 he and Senfl submitted a joint petition to Ferdinand for the payment of their outstanding payments; this document mentions that they had both served in the chapel for twenty-three years, i.e. from 1496. They made another joint supplication in 1538, but apparently again without success.
Fellner and Kretschmayer 1907, p. 145; Hirzel 1908, p. 153; Koczirz 1931, p. 532, 538-540 (from Registratur de anno 1519 bis 1520, Vienna, Hofkammerarchiv Sign. 46 [olim D 131]).