Albert Rosewig

Who was Albert Rosewig?

Albert Henry Rosewig was an American composer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, born in Hanover. He was an influential and modernist composer of hymns.

Rosewig is generally acknowledged as the most important American composer of Roman Catholic liturgical music in his time. He operated a publishing house in Philadelphia for his own works and those of others whereby his works were disseminated nationally. He was the music director of St. Charles Borromeo church in Philadelphia from about 1880 to 1919.

He had his opponents and in 1919 they took their case to the Vatican. He was charged with harmonizing and embellishing Gregorian chants. Pope Benedict XV issued an edict against what he was doing. This edict effectively ended his career. He spent his last ten years in seclusion.