The German composer Erasmus Lapicida, a priest, served from 1510 to about 1521 as a singer in the Court Kapelle in Heidelberg of the Elector Ludwig V. He was then granted a benefice by Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in the Schottenkloster in Vienna, where he was, for a short time, a colleague of Heinrich Finck. Lapicida lived an exceptionally long life, its length reflecting the changing patterns of composition. His surviving works include liturgical settings and German secular songs, polyphonic treatments of folk-songs, suggesting the influence of the Italian frottola.
