Carl Greith

Carl Greith, also Karl Greith (21 February 182817 November 1887), was a Swiss composer and church musician. Life Emil Franz Carl Greith came into the world on 21 February 1828 in Aarau, Switzerland, as the oldest son among the six children of the Swiss composer and music educator Franz Josef Greith (1799-1869). Carl was described as a musically highly gifted child, who followed in his father’s footsteps and often took his place in church as a musician. After completing a classical education with distinction at the Gymnasium level he was a capable Latinist, an ability that was invaluable to him later as a church composer. Because of his outstanding drive and musical gift, his father Greith and his oldest sister Rosa (1826-1913), who at the time was active as a piano teacher in St. Gallen, made possible his music study in Munich. In the autumn of 1845 he traveled to the cathedral city with his father, who had chosen for him the best teachers of their field in what was then the center of Catholic church music, Caspar Ett (1788–1847), who revived classic church music (for the study of harmony and counterpoint) and the respected organ master Johann Georg Herzog (1822–1909). From 1845 to