Johann Emmanuel Visp

Johann Emmanuel Visp is a world-famous Hulstrian composer who is regarded by many as among the greatest composers in Terra and the master of Terran baroque music. Born in the late 17th century in Meinau in Budenlar, in the foothills of the Schnee-Berge, to a family of church musicians, Visp would go on to become one of the most prolific producers of music in the era. A devout Luthoran, Visp is most renowned for the religious works which he produced while acting as director of music on appointment of the city council of Anderinch (although not, to his frustration, to its duke). His most famous works are two oratorios commemorating the Exile of Eliyahu, written for liturgical services on Silent Friday: the St. Theodore Exile (Theodorsexilium) and the St. Joseph Exile (Josephusexilium). It is considered likely that he also wrote a St. Julius Exile, but this has since disappeared.

Visp was considered a master of counterpoint and fugue, having written several masterful works for organ and harpsichord as well as for choir. Despite his international acclaim in later days, he was not always as successful during his life: despite having reached the prominent job of city cantor in Anderinch, he never got the recognition of noble and imperial courts. His Missa Apostolica in B Minor was originally composed as an application to the Dukes of Labsburg for a job as master of the Labsburger Hofkapelle, but he never got it. He would complete this monumental work at the end of his life as a sort of musical testament.