Franz Joseph Aumann

Franz Joseph Aumann (also Auman, Aumon; 24 February 1728, Traismauer – 30 March 1797, Sankt Florian) was an Austrian composer. Before his voice broke, he sang in the same Viennese choir as Michael Haydn and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger,[1] composers with whom he later in life traded manuscripts.[2] In view of this circulation, it is not surprising that some of his music has been incorrectly attributed to Haydn. However, his Missa Profana, satirizing the stuttering and bad singing of a schoolmaster, was once attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.[3]

Aumann was ordained a priest in the Augustinian Order in St. Florian in 1757, essentially staying there for the rest of his life. He wrote many mass settings.

Aumann's music was a large part of the repertoire at St. Florian in the 19th century, and Anton Bruckner availed himself of this resource for his studies of counterpoint.[4] Bruckner focused a lot of his attention on Aumann's Christmas responsories and an Ave Maria in D major.[5] Bruckner, who liked Aumann's coloured harmony, added in 1879 an accompaniment by three trombones to his settings of Ecce quomodo moritur justus and Tenebrae factae sunt.[6]

Aumann's oeuvre also includes instrumental music, such as some of the earliest string quintets.[7]