Georg Pasterwitz

NOTOC Georg Pasterwitz, baptized as Robert Johannes Ivo Pasterwitz (7 June 1730 – 26 January 1803) was an Austrian composer and teacher. He was born in Bierhütte, near Passau. First educated at Niederaltaich, he entered the Benedictine monastery in Kremsmünster in 1749. When he took his vows in 1750, he adopted the name “Georg” as his religious name. He then enrolled at the University of Salzburg, studying theology, law and mathematics. It was during this time that he met Johann Ernst Eberlin, who became his music teacher. Pasterwitz completed his studies in 1759 and soon started teaching philosophy at the monastery’s Ritterakademie, eventually rising to teach courses in mathematics, physics, economics, and political science; since about 1755 he was also active as composer, producing stage works for the monastery almost every year. Between 1767 and 1783 Pasterwitz served as the monastery’s choir director. Due to reforms started by Joseph II, he had to give up some of his duties and became instead the monastery’s treasurer and eventually official representative, when it was threatened with dissolution in 1785. Pasterwitz died in 1803 in Kremsmünster, having served as dean of the