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Remarks to "GIULIO CACCINI" - a brief visit to Florence at the time of the Medici princes around 1600 Giulio Caccini (1551-1618) was born in Rome and was the most successful composer in Italy around 1600 alongside Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). He introduced a new type of music: arias and madrigals written especially for solo voice and basso continuo. Caccini was accepted into the boys' choir of the “Cappella Giulia” of St. Peter's in Rome at a very young age. It is assumed that Caccini started there as a 5-year-old (1556) and after just one month in Florence sang the role of Psyche in an intermedium to “La Cofanaria”. From 1564 to 1565 he was a singing pupil of Giovanni Animuccia (1514-1571) in Rome. In 1565 he also sang in Florence at the wedding ceremonies of Francesco I de Medici (1541-1587) and Joan of Austria (1547-1578). In his adopted home of Florence, Caccini, who was known simply as Giulio Romano due to his Roman origins, was able to build on the favor of the Medici. From 1566, his place of work was the ducal court of Francesco I de Medici (1541-1587) and later of Ferdinando I de Medici (1549-1601). In late Renaissance Florence, courtly festivities - including obligatory ballets and “intermedia” - were lavishly decorated. The star singers of the court, including Caccini himself, were given a visual and acoustic setting for their art that today's opera singers can only dream of. Giulio himself provided works for this most magnificent genre of the time - music for courtly festivities. He played the lute, chitarrone, double harp and lira da braccio. As a member of the Camerata Florentina, which held its meetings in Giovanni de' Bardi's palazzo, he is credited with a large part in the invention of this new type of singing, the monody, which led to opera. The works transcribed here for the organ are taken from Giulio's volume of music “Le Nuove Musiche”, printed in 1601, as far as the melody and bass are concerned. For this edition, Caccini wrote many solo songs with the accompaniment of a theorbo, in which the same form of artificial love poetry is used as in the polyphonic madrigal, except that here a single voice sings in a recitative or arioso style. This seemingly simple solo singing unfolds over free or walking basses, sometimes melancholically pining as in the touching “Amarilli mia bella”, sometimes hopefully sighing as in “Tu ch'ai le penne amore”, and always adorned with astonishing manners. His works became so well known that even the English-born composer Peter Philips (c.1560-1628), who spent most of his life on the European continent (Italy, Flanders), dedicated a harpsichord version of his madrigal “Amarilli, mia bella” to Cassini, which was printed in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (a collection of harpsichord music of the late 16th and early 17th centuries). Robert Dowland (1591-1641), an English composer and the English king's first lutenist, also arranged Caccini's “Amarilli, mia bella” and published the piece in London in 1610 as part of his collection of lute music “A Musicall Banquet”. The setting of “Ave Maria” attributed to Caccini, which only contains the words “Ave Maria” in repetition, is part of the repertoire of many singers and choirs today. However, the composition, which is also available in countless arrangements for instruments, was actually written by the Russian guitarist, lutenist and composer Vladimir Fedorovich Vavilov (1925-1973). As a successful singing teacher, Caccini taught his wife Margherita della Scala and his daughters Francesca and Settimia, as well as his son Pompeo, and together they formed a famous singing ensemble that undertook concert tours to the French royal court in Paris in 1604-1605. But above all, Caccini's name is associated with the creation of opera. From the very beginning, he belonged to the Camerata Fiorentina, a society of musicians, poets and scholars, where he was valued above all as a practical musician. As people of the Renaissance, they wanted to revive the ancient theater and the theatrical music of the Greeks. In view of the development of opera at the time and Caccini's printed works on the art of singing, Giulio is considered one of the inventors of the so-called “stile recitativo” and monody and is one of the earliest representatives of the “arioso style”, which paved the way for bel canto.

Danke! Wieder einmal mehr eine äusserst klangschöne und wunderbar fliessend interpretierte Musiksammlung. PS: Natürlich gefällt mir "Frater Conradus" am besten ... ;-)

Remarks to CD 94 / SPREZZATURA: The “sprezzatura” was an important distinguishing feature of those people who lived within the elite social classes of 16th century Italy. This neologism was first described by Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529) in his 1528 book “Libro del Cortegiano” (Book of the Courtier). It recommends avoiding any kind of artifice and adopting a certain kind of nonchalance that conceals the art and shows that what one does or says seems to have come about effortlessly and almost without thought. Thus, this ability recommended by Castiglione is also evident here in a certain lightness in the performance of virtuoso Italian keyboard music as a very unobtrusive “coolness” in the playing. This is a compilation of relatively rarely heard Renaissance music for keyboard instruments - here from the cities in Tuscany and also from Venice, those places in Italy which were among the most important musical centers in Europe at the time. Previously, these pieces were written down by hand as intavoltations of originally vocal melodies for the lute, but also for the harpsichord or organ. But now - thanks to the new invention of printing - the printed copy could be read and played everywhere. Florence and Venice were also important centers of European book printing in the 16th century. In Venice it was Ottaviano Petrucci, in Florence the Giunta family. They now sent their printed works all over Europe. This meant great progress for the dissemination of Italian music. --------------------------------------- Heinrich Isaac (1450ca-1517) Little is known about the early life and musical training of Heinrich Isaac, the most important composer in Europe at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries alongside Josquin Desprez. He was born in Flanders around 1450 and, according to a payment receipt from 1484, was first at the Innsbruck court of Duke Sigismund the Rich of Coin of Tyrol, where Paul Hofhaimer (1459-1537) also worked. He was probably traveling through to Italy, where he entered the service of the Medici in Florence as an organist. He worked at the church of S. Giovanni, later at the cathedral of S. Maria del Fiore. After the death of Duke Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492) and the deposition and expulsion of the Medici family from Florence in 1494, Isaac returned to Innsbruck. In 1497, Isaac signed his vow of service there and was thus employed as court composer to Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519). He nevertheless maintained good relations with Italy and continued to frequent the princely courts, spending 1502 in Ferrara with the music-loving Duke Ercole I d'Este (1431-1505) and from 1502 to 1506 again mainly in Florence. In the same years, however, there is also evidence of good contacts with the electoral court in Dresden and the cathedral chapter in Constance. Significant highlights of Heinrich Isaac's career were the musical accompaniment of the Imperial Diet in Constance and Maximilian's coronation as Emperor in Trento in 1508. In 1510, the court of Emperor Maximilian decided to lend the composer estates in Val Policella near Verona, the income from which was apparently intended to replace Isaac's salary. By the end of 1511 at the latest, he was living in Florence again. In the last years of his life, Henry probably also acted as a kind of imperial chargé d'affaires in confidential matters for Maximilian's court. He had a well-rounded mind and was already famous for this during his lifetime. His complete musical oeuvre is extraordinarily extensive; the number of mass ordinaries he composed alone, with 35 surviving mass cycles and 15 individual mass movements, considerably exceeds that of all his contemporaries and also occupies a prominent position in his own oeuvre. Isaac's career differs strikingly from that of most of his Franco-Flemish predecessors in that he did not return to the region of his origin after a period of Italian life, but instead remained in Italy until the end of his life after a long German-speaking interlude with the Habsburgs. ------------------------------------ Vincenzo Galilei (c.1520ca-1591) Vincenzo Galilei was born around 1520 in Santa Maria a Monte. He came from a noble family and was a lute and violin player in his early years. He then moved to Florence around 1540. On the advice of the Florentine patrician Giuseppe de Bardi (1534-1612), who liked his lute playing exceptionally well, he became a pupil of Gioseffo Zarlino (1517-1590) in Venice around 1560 and then completed his training with Girolamo Mei (1519-1594) in Rome. Vincenzo settled in Pisa as a lute teacher in 1562, where his famous son Galileo was born in 1564. He spent several years in Venice for the printing of his lute tablature work “Fronimo” (1568). At the beginning of the 1570s, Vincenzo was finally able to move to Florence, the capital of Tuscany, and devote himself entirely to music. In 1578/79, Galileo was a guest at the court of Albrecht V in Munich. His son Michelangelo (1575-1631) was a lute player in the elector's court chapel there. Vincenzo Galileo's compositional output is closely linked to the beginnings of the “Stile Recitativo” and the history of the Camerata Florentina, a salon dedicated to science and the fine arts at the court of Giuseppe de Bardi. In addition to compositions for the lute, he also wrote music theory: In “Dialogo della musica antica et della moderna” (1581), Vincenzo dealt with the music of the Greeks; in “Discorso intorno all'opere di messer Gioseffo Zarlino” (1589), he contradicts his teacher's view of “natural” mathematical principles as the basis of musical laws. His writing was groundbreaking for the development of the recitative. Several polyphonic madrigals and lute pieces by him have survived. ------------------------------------ Cristofano or Cristoforo Malvezzi (1547-1599), born in Lucca as the son of the organist and organ builder Niccoló Malvezzi, probably received his musical training from his father and also from prominent figures in Florentine musical life at the time. He became a “canonico soprannumerario” at the age of 15 and a regular canon at San Lorenzo in Florence from 1572, before working as a bandmaster at the Baptistery of San Giovanni from 1571, which was under the musical administration of the de Medici family. In 1574, Cristofano took over his father's position as organist at San Lorenzo. He also worked as organist and choirmaster at the Florentine church of Santa Trinita. From 1586, he was also employed at the Medici court to compose intermedia (musical interludes for theatrical performances). In this capacity, Malvezzi also wrote several of these interludes in 1589 during the musical comedy “La Pellegrina” by Girolamo Bargagli (1537-1586) on the occasion of the marriage of Ferdinando I de Medici to Christine of Lorraine in Florence. ------------------------------------ There is little biographical information about the life of Marko Facoli (1540-1585). From his “Secondo libro”, printed in 1588, it only emerges that he was Venetian or at least spent most of his life in Venice. Facoli composed two collections of harpsichord music; the first book is unfortunately lost, which is a great pity considering the high quality of the pieces in the second collection. By the time this second book was published, Marco Facoli had already died. He had a son, Claudio, who received his musical training from Andrea Gabrieli (c. 1532-1585). At the time, Gabrieli was the first organist at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice. ------------------------------------

Remarks to "#10 FRAUENWOERTH MINSTER" The Frauenwoerth Minster The monastery church on Fraueninsel is one of the oldest Christian places of worship in southern Germany. The Christianization of this region took place in the 7th century by Irish wandering monks who came to this region from Scotland and Ireland and established their mission station in Salzburg. The Irish wandering missionary and Saint Virgil (~ 700-784), monk of the Scottish Iona Abbey on the same island and builder of the first Salzburg Cathedral, consecrated the monastery church founded by the Bavarian Duke Tassilo III as Bishop of Salzburg on September 1, 782. The monastery church of St. Mary's, which was built in the 11th century on the Carolingian foundations of the previous building, is of particular art-historical significance. While the exterior of the three-aisled basilica is still characterized by the Romanesque construction period, the interior is architecturally dominated by the late Gothic period. The church is furnished in the Baroque style with eleven altars, while the organ and pulpit already belong to the Rococo period. Until secularization in 1803 (= expropriation of church property), Frauenchiemsee Abbey belonged to the Archbishopric of Salzburg. It was then reopened in 1838 and assigned to the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. Frauenwörth has been an abbey again since 1901, making it the oldest existing German-speaking women's monastery north of the Alps alongside the Benedictine abbey of Nonnberg in Salzburg. The convent with its residential and farm buildings, cemetery and gardens forms an idyllic and impressive complex. -------------------------------------- Franz Xaver Süssmayr (1766-1803) Franz Xaver Süssmayr was born in Schwanenstadt (Upper Austria). He probably received his first musical lessons from his father, as he was already listed as "Organista et Altista", and later also as "Tenor et Violinista", when he entered the collegiate grammar school at Kremsmünster Abbey (Upper Austria) in 1779. These lessons gave him an education that was rarely given to musicians at the time. In the following years of his time at Kremsmünster Abbey, he was increasingly called upon to compose church music and, from 1785, also to compose music for plays that were performed in Kremsmünster. His school days ended in 1787. In 1788 there is an indication that he was living in Vienna. He probably also met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the same year, as Süssmayr mentions in a letter from 1797 to the Abbot of Lambach (Upper Austria) that his operetta "Der rauschige Hans", which he dated 1788, was written under the direction of the "blessed, immortal Mozart". Süssmayr was a pupil of Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) and, according to a statement by Constanze Mozart, also a pupil of W. A. Mozart from 1790. He is said to have assisted Mozart in the composition of the secco recitatives in "La clemenza di Tito". Mozart is also said to have discussed his Requiem with Süssmayr in his final days, so that Franz Xaver is said to have felt able to complete the piece after Mozart's death on the basis of this verbal information and some notes ("Zettelchen") he left behind. Although often criticized, Süssmayr's additions (he composed or orchestrated the last five parts) are now standard in Mozart's "Requiem" performances. From 1792, Süssmayr was conductor at the National Theater in Vienna (= Hofburgtheater) and from 1794, he was Kapellmeisteradjunkt von Joseph Weigl (1766-1846) at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna. Many music lovers today only know him as a pupil of W. A. Mozart and as the arranger and composer of the Requiem. But Süssmayr was capable of much more: he is regarded as a successful composer of Viennese Singspiel and composed around 30 stage works. He also composed cantatas, masses and instrumental music. Franz Xaver's only piece for organ - "Sonatina in G major" - can be heard here. Franz Xaver Süssmayr died in Vienna in 1803 and was buried in the St. Marx cemetery.

A very inspiring performance. Thanks for sharing.

Remarks to SACRED TREASURES - #9 ST. WOLFGANG PILGRIMAGE CHURCH (Upper Austria) The Salzkammergut is undoubtedly one of the highlights of Austria and the Alpine region. Picturesque lake landscapes and fantastic mountains have been attracting holidaymakers to this unique region, which stretches from Upper Austria to Styria, for centuries. The Salzkammergut offers far more than just breathtaking landscapes. There are numerous cultural treasures for visitors to discover. This is also the case at Lake Wolfgangsee. The imposing pilgrimage church of St. Wolfgang stands on a rock directly on the north-eastern shore of the lake. As early as 1306, a document reported that pilgrims from various parts of the world gathered in the church of St. Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut. This is evidence of a lively pilgrimage, which is hardly known from any other pilgrimage site in southern Bavaria. From the wording of this source, it can be assumed that the influx of pilgrims began as early as the 13th century, or perhaps even earlier. Around 1315, a large pilgrims' house was therefore built to accommodate the pilgrims. From then on, more and more pilgrims came to St. Wolfgang, and by the end of the 15th century, the town was one of the largest pilgrimage destinations in Christendom, comparable only to Rome, Einsiedeln and Aachen. At that time, the large church that still exists today was built, for which Michael Pacher (1435-1498) created his magnificent winged altar with its elaborate carvings. This Gothic work of art is often described as the most beautiful of all winged altars - not only because of its exquisite artistic quality, but also because of its excellent state of preservation. The work was created by Michael Pacher over several years up to 1481 and brought to St. Wolfgang by ship and on several carts from Bruneck (South Tyrol). The altar is 12.5m high, more than 6m wide when open and shows scenes from the life of Jesus and St. Wolfgang on the wings. The carved central section (shrine) depicts the coronation of the Virgin Mary. The predella underneath shows the Adoration of the Magi. The top of the altar is formed by the delicately carved sprinkling, while the work of art is dominated by an expressive, life-size crucifix. --------------------------------------- Paul Peuerl (1570-1625) He was an Austrian composer, organist and organ builder. Although initially trained in Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg, Germany), Peuerl then worked as an organist and teacher in Horn (Lower Austria) from 1601 and as organist at the Protestant church in Steyr (Upper Austria) from 1609. In addition to his profession as an organist, Peuerl also worked on the organs in Horn (1606, 1615) and Steyr (1614), and in 1619 he rebuilt the collegiate organ in Wilhering, whereupon he also described himself as an "organist and organ builder". In 1625, he left the town of Steyr for religious reasons (Counter-Reformation); his further fate is unknown. He was responsible for the first publications (1625) of German trio sonatas, which require two melody parts accompanied by a basso continuo. His achievements in the direction of the German variation suite are seen as significant and trend-setting for his time. The Intrada, for example, is one of the four dances from these suites. This Padouan comes from one of his many lively and charming dance suites, a popular genre in Renaissance Germany.

Remarks to SACRED TREASURES - #8 REICHERSBERG ABBEY Composer: Anton Estendorffer (1670-1711) spent the majority of his life in Reichersberg Abbey. He was born in Deggendorf (Bavaria) as the son of the local parish organist. His older brother Johann Franz Estendorffer (1661-1695) entered the Niederaltaich monastery (Bavaria) as Father Gunther. Anton Estendorffer's nephew Marian (1715-1758), the brother's son who had succeeded his father as the town's parish organist, became a Premonstratensian in the Altenmarkt monastery in Osterhofen (Bavaria). Anton Estendorffer himself made his profession as Father Anton in 1689 with the Augustinian canons in Reichersberg am Inn Abbey (Upper Austria) and then studied philosophy and canon law in Dillingen (Swabia / Bavaria) from 1692 to 1695. He was ordained a priest in 1697 and from 1705 to 1707 was parish priest in Münsteuer (Upper Austria), which is still looked after by the parish of Reichersberg today and has a magnificent baroque organ. Father Anton was also entrusted with the offices of dean of the monastery and novice master. In 1711, in the 42nd year of his life, he died in Reichersberg, where his tombstone can be found in the northern cloister on the outer wall of the church. In the written death notice of the monastic community, Father Anton is praised as a "vir candidissimae vitae" (a man of the purest life). To date, only 19 organ works by Father Anton Estendorffer are known, all of which were recorded in an important composite manuscript from Ottobeuren Abbey before 1695 (shelfmark: MO 1037). This organ book also contains works by masters such as Georg Muffat (1653-1704), Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1667), Johann Caspar Kerl (1627-1693), Allesandro Poglietti (16??-1683) and several others. Estendorffer is therefore in the best of company here, as these were the most important organ masters of his time. Estendorffer's organ music consists exclusively of variations. They are based either on well-known hymns, particularly from the Christmas and Easter season, or on short, very song-like themes in a wide variety of church tones. They are each followed by a chain of four to eight variations.

Danke für die interessanten Video-Impressionen dieser berühmten Burganlage. Wurden Aufnahmen aus der Vogel-Perspektive am Beginn mit einer eigenen Drohne angefertig?

Remarks to "OLDIES BUT GOODIES IN OLD WALLS - BURGHAUSEN CASTLE": Remarks to "OLDIES BUT GOODIES IN OLD WALLS - BURGHAUSEN CASTLE": THE CASTLE: The old ducal town of Burghausen in the Upper Bavarian district of Altötting with its imposing castle has a thousand-year history. The Guinness Book of Records declares it to be the longest castle in the world. Basically, the fortifications, which are exactly 1,051 meters long, are a series of six courtyards or fortress sections that were separated and secured by moats and gates. Recent excavations have revealed that the ridge above the Salzach river was already inhabited in the Bronze Age. In the 7th century AD, the Bavarian dukes are said to have built their first wooden defensive fortifications here. From this they developed a ducal palace. An imperial court is mentioned for the first time in a document from 1025. In the meantime, Duke Henry the Lion (1129-1195) took possession of the castle. After he was deposed by Emperor Barbarossa in 1180, ownership passed to the Wittelsbach dukes. From 1255, Duke Henry XIII (1235-1290) began to extend the core castle on the southern tip of the castle hill. During his reign, the Palas, the treasury, the Dürnitzstock and the bower wing as well as the castle chapel were built. Until 1503, Burghausen was the residence of the Lower Bavarian dukes alongside Trausnitz near Landshut and served as a widow's seat. For a long time, historians assumed that Duke George the Rich (1455-1503) had banished his wife Hedwig, the Polish king's daughter, to Burghausen after the famous Landshut wedding (1475). She would have spent the rest of her life there in solitude. Using account books, a historian has since discovered that Hedwig was by no means an abandoned wife. Georg lived with Hedwig in Burghausen for the first four years after their marriage. Even later, he repeatedly came to Burghausen for months at a time to hold court here. When he was absent, the Duke had wine, fruit and delicacies sent to Burghausen. He is also said to have sent a little monkey to amuse Hedwig. At the same time, the castle was a prison for troublesome political rivals. Louis the Bearded (Louis VII - Duke of Bavaria-Ingolstadt, 1368-1447), for example, died here in prison after a long imprisonment. The Swedish General Horn (1592-1657) spent seven years in the dungeon here after being captured by the Bavarians during the Battle of Nördlingen in 1634. Duke Georg was rightly nicknamed “the Rich”. A glance at the inventory of the treasury shows this. In addition to 500,000 gold ducats, countless gold bars and silver treasures were stored there. When Count Palatine Ruprecht, son-in-law of Duke Georg, had the treasures brought to safety in Neuburg on the Danube during the Landshut War of Succession, he is said to have needed seventy six-horse carts to do so. The train must have been several hundred meters long. The fear of the advancing Turks in particular led to brisk building activity from around 1490. Even then, the castle reached its present length. Both during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and a hundred years later during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), the defenses were extended again and the walls reinforced. Remains of the outworks with the powder tower can still be seen today at the southern end of the Wöhrsee. Then came the French Emperor Napoleon. He had a large part of the northern fortifications demolished in 1801. This left the castle unprotected at its most vulnerable point. After the end of Napoleon's reign, a Bavarian garrison was quartered in the castle. After the garrison was disbanded in 1891, there were even concrete plans to demolish the castle. Citizens of the town were only just able to prevent this. Today, with its 1,051 meters above the city, the castle is a special public attraction for young and old. With numerous festivals and markets, but above all with the large historical castle festival (a spectacle that takes place every year in July), the old walls attract a large number of visitors. -------------------------------------------------- COMPOSERS: Adam Ileborgh of Stendal (c.1448) Adam Ileborgh lived in Stendal (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) in the 15th century. The exact dates of his life are not known. He was probably a Franciscan monk and also rector of the Latin school in Stendal, which was a flourishing trading and Hanseatic town at the time. The only document that provides information about Ileborgh is the manuscript of an organ tablature from 1448, which Ileborgh wrote and edited. Whether he was also the composer of the organ pieces contained therein could not be proven for a long time. The music itself is considered to be less artistic, even in comparison with the organ tradition of southern Germany. Its simple, free style with rhythmically irregular melodies sounds quite “medieval” to today's ears and shows a clear proximity to improvisation. -------------------------------------------------- The Buxheim Organ Book (1460) The Buxheim Organ Book (named after the Charterhouse Buxheim in the district of Unterallgäu, Bavaria) from the early 15th century is one of the most important records of keyboard instrumental music of the Middle Ages and has been in the possession of the Bavarian State Library in Munich since 1883. The texts of the manuscript were most likely collected in Nuremberg. The Buxheim Organ Book then originated between 1460 and 1470 in the High Alemannic language area, i.e. in the region between St. Gallen, Zurich and Bern (all in Switzerland). Especially the spelling of the German title headings indicates this. On the other hand, the former imperial Carthusian monastery of Buxheim near Memmingen was the source of the name. The manuscript probably came to this Carthusian monastery at the beginning of the 16th century, when the secular priest Hildebrand Brandenburg von Biberach joined the Charterhouse and brought his private library of about 450 books into the monastery's holdings. For almost four centuries, the manuscript was then part of the Buxheim Charterhouse library. The codex is a collection of 258 instrumental versions for keyboard instruments of polyphonic French and German song settings, of polyphonic sacred Latin compositions, and of polyphonic arrangements of melodies previously available in other sources only in monophonic form, including liturgical monophony as well as songs and dance tunes, most of them with numerous ornaments, diminutions, and ornaments. It is not yet clear how the collection recorded in the Buxheim Organ Book reached the Charterhouse of Buxheim in Bavaria, but the very good trade relations between Nuremberg and the cities around Lake Constance may have played a role in this. -------------------------------------------------- Antonio Scandello - also Scandellus or Scandelli (1517-1580) Antonio Scandello, who came from an old noble family in northern Italy (de Rusticis), was probably active as a cornettist and trombonist in Bergamo (Italy) from 1530. He and his brother Angelo succeeded his father Hieronimus Scandello as town pipers. In 1547, Scandello was active at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo. Six years later, he can be found in the chapel of Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo of Trento. During a trip to Italy in 1549, Elector Moritz of Saxony (Germany) employed him and five other “Welsh musicians” for the newly founded Dresden court chapel. The Saxon elector thus followed a fashion that emerged in the mid-16th century, namely the increased employment of Italian musicians at German courts. Scandello converted to Protestantism in 1562 - the reason was the acquisition of the later post of Kapellmeister and citizenship of the city of Dresden. From 1566 he was Vice-Kapellmeister and from 1568 until his death Court Kapellmeister of the Dresden Court Chapel. -------------------------------------------------- Elias Nikolaus Ammerbach (1530-1597) Ammerbach, a German organist and arranger of the Renaissance period, published the first printed collection of organ music in Germany. He attended the University of Leipzig (1548-1549) and was then, presumably until the end of his life, organist at St. Thomas Church. He became a citizen of the city in 1564. Ammerbach was married three times and had eleven children. The preface to his 1571 publication, an organ tablature book, indicates that he traveled abroad (Italy) for study purposes, although no further details are given. Ammerbach's collection is the first example of the notation known today as “Neue Deutsche Orgeltabulatur”, which was still in use in the eighteenth century. It uses only letters for pitches and rhythmic symbols placed above them. Ammerbach's twie here e.g. of Scandello tablatures contain arrangements by various popular composers of the mid-16th century, such as here e.g. by Scandello.

Die Kombination von Orgel- und Cembalo-Klängen ist immer wieder sehr hörenswert und belebt hier wunderbar die vorgetragenen Renaissance-Musik. Die zwei Skelette am Ende des Videos sind vermutlich Opfer des schröcklichen Klimawandels unserer Tage; oder handelt es sich allenfalls um Opfer der verruchten Gräfin Erzsebet Báthory ???

Sinnliche frühromantische Orgelmusik in einer angenehm zurückhaltenden Interpretation - Besten Dank! Welche weitere Komponistin dürfen wir in dieser interessanten "Donne" Orgel-Serie als nächste erwarten? Vielleicht Clara Schumann?

Danke für die abermals eindrucksvolle Zusammenstellung kaum bekannter Orgel-Proben! War die Schuke-Orgel bei der Erstellung des Hauptwerk Sample Set noch im Originalzustand von 1977 oder wurde sie vorher irgendwann noch stärker klanglich "barockisiert"?

Remarks to CD 93 / ORGEL-PROBE: Our journey through the world of sound this time comes from the home countries of the Reformation, whose spirit gave strong impetus to the art of the organ. The special focus is on organ music from Central Germany, which was groundbreaking far beyond the borders of Germany and Europe and is still a fixture in every organ repertoire today. Johann Sebastian Bach has shaped the organ world like no other. But Bach's musical environment in the 18th century - consisting in part of his pupils and their successors - was also extremely productive. A selection of compositions by contemporary organists from central Germany can be heard here: works by Johann Friederich Alberti, Andreas Armsdorff and Nicolaus Vetter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andreas Werckmeister (1645-1706) He was born in Benneckenstein (Saxony-Anhalt) and attended boys' school there. After a two-year stay with his uncle in Benningen, Andreas attended the Latin school in Nordhausen. He then attended grammar school in Quedlinburg. Werckmeister held his first position as organist and schoolteacher in Hasselfelde from 1664 to 1673. In 1674 he became organist and town clerk in Elbingerode, until he was appointed court organist at the collegiate church of St. Servatius in Quedlinburg in 1675 after an impressive prelude on the organ, which received the highest admiration and recognition. From 1696 to 1706 Werckmeister was Magister and organist at the Ratskirche St. Martini in Halberstadt and was also appointed Royal Prussian Inspector of all 34 organs in the Principality of Halberstadt. Andreas Werckmeister's sphere of activity was in Saxony-Anhalt. There he was an extensively educated personality, a sought-after organ expert, an important music theorist and composer, acquainted with J. S. Bach's cousin Johann Gottfried Walther and friends with the famous organ builder Arp Schnitger and the grand master of North German organ music, Dietrich Buxtehude. His career and his writings bear witness to the high level of education at the secondary schools he attended in Nordhausen and Quedlinburg. His compositional work is only fragmentary. Only the titles of larger collections are known. Four organ compositions and a cantata have survived. He was highly regarded as an organ expert and took part in more than 30 organ inspections. Werckmeister became known to posterity more as a music theorist, as well as with his publication "Die Orgel-Probe". ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johann Friedrich Alberti (1642-1710) As one of the few musicians of the 17th century from northern Germany (Tönning in Schleswig) who had found their professional and private home in central Germany, Johann Friedrich Alberti enjoyed a good reputation as an organist and composer among his contemporaries. He attended grammar school in Stralsund, where he met the future Dresden court conductor Vincenzo Albrici (1631-1687), and then spent two years traveling in Holland and France. In 1661, Alberti began studying law in Leipzig, where the Thomaskantor Sebastian Knüpfer (1633-1676) and the St. Nicholas organist Johann Rosenmüller (1619-1684) and Adam Krieger (1634-1666) had raised the level of civic and student music-making to a high level. Werner Fabricius (1633-1679) trained him as an organist here. In April1666, the newly built organ in Merseburg Cathedral (Saxony-Anhalt) was consecrated at the instigation of Duke Christian I of Saxony-Merseburg (1615-1691). It is unclear whether Alberti was immediately appointed to the post of court organist in Merseburg, which was created at the same time, or whether he only received the post later. Alberti, according to the music writer Johann Mattheson (1681-1764) „ein tüchtiger Theologus, gelehrter Jurist und gantzer Musikus“ (a capable theologian, learned jurist and complete musician), remained court and chamber organist at Merseburg Cathedral and court until his death in 1710, but had to be completely replaced by Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1679-1735) from 1700 onwards, as a stroke had paralyzed his right hand. In 1676, Alberti visited Dresden as part of Duke Christian I's entourage and once again received Italian inspiration in composing and playing music from Albrici, which, according to Mattheson, brought about a change of style in Alberti's playing and compositions. At the same time, it was a sign that the Italian high baroque music practiced in Dresden since around 1650, particularly by Giovanni Andrea Bontempi (1624-1705), Marco Gioseppe Perandia (1626-1675) and Vincenzo Albrici, had also established itself in Merseburg. Only a few of Alberti's organ compositions have survived. The "four large boxes ... filled with all kinds of written and printed musical things" mentioned in the Merseburg court records of 1731 may have contained a large number of Alberti compositions as well as many works by other composers. With these lost compositions, Albert probably proved himself to be a master of pure composition in accordance with the old rules of counterpoint, as is also evident in his other, contrapuntally rich works. The young Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759) from Halle also entered music by Alberti in his study book in 1698, which he considered exemplary. The Weimar city organist Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748) also included pieces by Alberti in his collection of organ works, which is now in Berlin. It is a pity that most of Alberti's complete oeuvre has been lost, as his organ works, which were certainly once much more extensive, would have enriched our picture of the surviving Central German organ music before and around 1700 with important features, as Alberti was not without reason regarded as an outstanding composer of his time and environment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andreas Armsdorff (1670-1699) He was born in Mühlberg near Gotha (Thuringia) and studied music and law. At some point in his early life, he moved to nearby Erfurt, where he may have studied with Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706). Armsdorff worked there as an organist at various Erfurt churches: the Reglerkirche, the Andreaskirche and the Kaufmannskirche. He died in Erfurt at the age of 29. Armsdorff's early death - he was only 29 years old - did not stand in the way of the posthumous popularity of his music. Surprisingly, a considerable oeuvre has survived, which is mainly characterized by the variety of movement types. His chorale preludes for organ were still being circulated in numerous copies throughout Germany decades after Armsdorff's death. In 1758, the music historian Jakob Adlung (1699-1762) praised Armsdorff's music as "pleasing to the ear". Today, Armsdorff's surviving works include 33 chorale preludes and a fuga, but there are also references to lost vocal works and attributions of further pieces for keyboard instruments. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andreas Nicolaus Vetter (1666-1734) Nicolaus Vetter represents more the type of organist who worked in modest circles, who, without opening up new paths himself, continued to exploit the achievements of the significantly outstanding masters and passed them on to his circle of students. Little is known about his life. Vetter was born in 1666 in Herschdorf near Königsee (Thuringia). His piano and organ teacher was first Georg Caspar Wecker (1632-1695) in Nuremberg (Bavaria) in 1681, then Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) in Erfurt (Thuringia) in 1688. He must have been a good and talented pupil of Pachelbel. For when the latter moved to Stuttgart in 1690 to work for Duchess Magdalena Sibylla (1652-1712) in Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg), Vetter, aged 24, was appointed his successor in Erfurt. However, he did not stay in this city for long, as Nicolaus was already appointed to Rudolstadt (Thuringia) in 1691, where he worked as court organist and later in secondary positions as "fürstlicher Regierungs-Advocatus ordinarius und Kirchen-prokurator" (princely government advocatus ordinarius and church procurator). His successor in Erfurt was Johann Heinrich Buttstedt (1666-1727). Like so many musicians of the time, Vetter must therefore have completed academic studies. It can be assumed that he had the opportunity to do so before his arrival in Erfurt, perhaps in Leipzig, where Daniel Vetter (1657-1721) - a presumed relative of Nicolaus - also worked. Vetter's contemporaries valued his 12 chorale arrangements as good examples of the Central German style established at the time. The form of the compositions clearly shows the traits of Pachelbel's art. These pieces also include the chorale partita with 17 variations on "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr", which was later falsely attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach as BWV 771. When Johann Gottfried Walther's lexicon was published in 1732, Nicolaus Vetter was still alive. His year of death is given as 1734 in the Rudolstadt church register.

For a student of early keyboard music, I can't tell you how valuable your channel is to me. I want to thank you for putting up so much repertoire, and organizing it (!) so nicely. The performances are impressive and memorable as well. Every organist online should be aware of your work. Thank you!

Immer wieder erstaunlich, wieviel unbekannte und trotzdem hörenswerte alte Orgelmusik noch zu entdecken ist. Die charmanten Ciaccona in h-moll von Johann Jacob de Neufville erinnert in erfreulicher Weise an die entsprechenden Vorbilder seines Lehrmeisters Johann Pachelbel.

Remarks to CD 92 / SPITZFLOET / Volume 2: COMPOSERS: Anton Estendorffer (1670-1711) Anton Estendorffer was born in Deggendorf (Bavaria) as the son of the local parish organist. His older brother Johann Franz Estendorffer (1661-1695) entered the Niederaltaich monastery (Bavaria) as Father Gunther. Anton Estendorffer's nephew Marian (1715-1758), the brother's son who had succeeded his father as the town's parish organist, became a Premonstratensian in the Altenmarkt monastery in Osterhofen (Bavaria). Anton Estendorffer himself made his profession as Father Anton in 1689 with the Augustinian canons in Reichersberg am Inn Abbey (Upper Austria) and then studied philosophy and canon law in Dillingen (Swabia / Bavaria) from 1692 to 1695. He was ordained a priest in 1697 and from 1705 to 1707 was parish priest in Münsteuer (Upper Austria), which is still looked after by the parish of Reichersberg today and has a magnificent baroque organ. Father Anton was also entrusted with the offices of dean of the monastery and novice master. In 1711, in the 42nd year of his life, he died in Reichersberg, where his tombstone can be found in the northern cloister on the outer wall of the church. In the written death notice of the monastic community, Father Anton is praised as a "vir candidissimae vitae" (a man of the purest life). To date, only 19 organ works by Father Anton Estendorffer are known, all of which were recorded in an important composite manuscript from Ottobeuren Abbey before 1695 (shelfmark: MO 1037). This organ book also contains works by masters such as Georg Muffat (1653-1704), Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1667), Johann Caspar Kerl (1627-1693), Allesandro Poglietti (16??-1683) and several others. Estendorffer is therefore in the best of company here, as these were the most important organ masters of his time. Estendorffer's organ music consists exclusively of variations. They are based either on well-known hymns, particularly from the Christmas and Easter season, or on short, very song-like themes in a wide variety of church tones. They are each followed by a chain of four to eight variations. -------------------------------------------- Johann Jacob de Neufville (1684-1712) Johann Jacob de Neufville came from a noble Huguenot family who had lived in Nuremberg (Bavaria) since 1612. In his home town of Nuremberg - where he was also born - he was educated in piano, harpsichord, organ and later also composition lessons with Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706). According to Johann Gottfried Walther's "Musicalisches Lexicon" (1732), de Neufville already had an organist position in a church at the age of 21 years old, de Neufville already held an organist position in a suburb of Nuremberg. From 1707, he spent time in Italy (especially Venice) for further musical training. He returned to his homeland in 1709 via Graz, where he briefly took lessons from Johann Joseph Fux (c.1660-1741) and Georg Reutter (1656-1738). Until his death in 1712, he served as organist in the Nuremberg suburb of Wöhrd as successor to Wilhelm Hieronymus Pachelbel (1686-1764). The "Ciacona in B minor" by Johann Jacob de Neufville recorded here forms the conclusion of a further five arias, each with five to seven variations, from the collection "Sex Melea seu Ariae cum Variationibus ad Organum Pneumaticum Musicum" published in 1708. -------------------------------------------- Wilhelm Hieronymus Pachelbel (1686-1764) Wilhelm Hieronymus Pachelbel was born in Erfurt (Thuringia). As a composer and organist of the late Baroque period, he was the eldest son of the famous organist and composer Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706). His brother Carl Theodorus Pachelbel (1690-1750) was also a musician and composer. Wilhelm Hieronymus received his musical training in composition and keyboard playing from his father, who was working as an organist in Erfurt at the time of his son's birth, then in Stuttgart (1690-1692) and Gotha (1692-1695) and from 1695 in his home town of Nuremberg. The family maintained friendly relations with the Bach family. Johann Pachelbel combined the dedication of his "Hexachordum Apollinis" to Dieterich Buxtehude and Ferdinand Tobias Richter with the request that his son Wilhelm Hieronymus, who was 13 years old at the time, be taken in and educated further. However, it is likely that he received no real instruction from either of them. Wilhelm Hieronymus was first given a position as organist at St. Bartholomew's Church in the Nuremberg suburb of Wöhrd, from 1706 at St. Jakob and then at St. Egidien. In 1719, he became organist at Nuremberg's main church St. Sebald, as his father had been until his death in 1706. He held this position until his death in 1764. Wilhelm Hieronymus Pachelbel published two collections of music for keyboard instruments around 1725. In addition, several compositions for harpsichord and organ have also been preserved in copies. While his early work was characterized by the strict baroque musical style of his father, in his later compositions he approached the transitional style between baroque and pre-classical with fresh, lively pieces: the music of the rococo. ------------------------------------------- Hieronymus Florentinus Quehl (1694-1739) Hieronymus Florentinus Quehl was born in Zella (Thuringia) in 1694 as the son of a parish assistant. He learned to play the organ and compose under Kapellmeister Christian Friedrich Witt (1660-1717) in Gotha (Thuringia). From the fall of 1714, he worked as organist at the town church in Suhl (Thuringia). In 1718 he married a daughter of the Suhl parish priest Johann Caspar Werner. Johann Sebastian Bach, who was Kapellmeister in Köthen (Saxony-Anhalt) at the time, was godfather to Quehl's third son, as evidenced by his friendly relationship with the then "Capellmeister Bach". In 1732/1733 Quehl also taught Johann Peter Kellner (1705-1772), among others. In 1735, Quehl became "Capelldirektor" at St. Michael's in Fürth (Franconia/Bavaria) and worked here until his early death in 1739. Quehl was considered a recognized musical personality in his time. Of his works, we only know the 2 chorale variations printed in Nuremberg in 1734 and, in addition to a large fugue in C major, the "42 Fugues and Chorales", which were also handed down by hand in 1734. From these, a selection of 3 chorale arrangements was made here. Quehl's chorale fugues are technically demanding and each has a chorale movement as a second part. This "Thuringian tradition" of these organ movements is known in the trade as "passagio organ chorales". ------------------------------------------ Johann Caspar Simon (1701-1776) Johann Caspar Simon, born 1701 in Floh near Schmalkalden (Thuringia), was probably a pupil of Johann Nikolaus Bach, a cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach, during his studies at the University of Jena from 1723 to 1727. From 1727 to 1731, Simon worked as "Director musices und Praeceptor" at the court of the Counts of Hohenlohe in Langenburg (Wuerttemberg). He was appointed organist and music director at St. George's in Nördlingen (Bavaria) in 1731 after a successful audition, and was given the post of 4th grade teacher at the Latin school by the town council in 1743. In 1750, Simon asked his town council to relieve him of all official duties. Due to the death of his brother-in-law Carl Maximilian Leibbrand in Leipzig, he had inherited his cloth business. He therefore gave up his apprenticeship and church office to become a merchant. A respected and wealthy cloth merchant, Johann Caspar Simon died in Leipzig in 1776. According to current research, Simon left behind 3 cantata volumes, a chorale book, organ pieces, piano movements and 2 symphonies. The 3rd year of cantatas and the chorale book have been preserved in manuscript form, the other works were published in print between 1749 and 1755. The two organ pieces recorded here are from Simon's 3rd publication entitled "Leichte Praeludia und Fugen durch die Tone: C. D. E. F. G. A.B. dur, which can be played on the organ as well as on the clavicordio with pleasure and benefit. First part. Communicated to lovers of the piano by Johann Caspar Simon, organist and director of music in the Holy Roman Empire city of Nördlingen. Röm. Reichs Stadt Nördlingen". ----------------------------------------- Franz Anton Hugl (1706-1745) Franz Anton Hugl was born in Buchau (Württemberg). His father was a sacristan and organist at the Buchau convent. It was there - in the "Parnassus of the Muses", as the composer later wrote in 1738 - that Hugl learned the basics of music. Thanks to the support of the abbess of the monastery - the Countess of Montfort (1663-1742) - he must have developed into an outstanding organist at an early age, because after working as an organist at Schlierbach Abbey (Upper Austria), he moved to Passau (Bavaria) in 1727 and was appointed vice-chapelmaster and organist of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Passau in 1733. He held this position until his death in 1745. In 1738 he dedicated his 6 Parthien to the abbess of Buchau, Maria Theresia von Montfort. The collection is called "Dreyssig Cammer- oder Galanterie-Stück vor das Clavier". The parthias contain various dances which bear witness to the Upper Swabian organists' preference for the new "gallantries" of the Rococo style. A total of 58 organ works by Franz Anton Hugl have survived.

Such awesome, and brilliant. Muffat is such amazing!

Sehr schön! Und mit tollen "Sample sets"....

Пахелбел один из лучших композиторов органной музыки

Eine wirklich interessante Neuentdeckung! Mit gut passender Orgelmusik für ein Frauenkloster mit mehrheitlich kontemplativ und anmutig klingenden Werken, die aber trotzdem nie langweilen. Danke für die gelungene Präsentation! PS: Wieso bezeichnet sich das Manuskript als "Schachbuch"? Gibt es darin auch Inhalte zum Schach-Spiel oder ist mit dem Begriff eventuell etwas anderes gemeint?

Thank you for a great recording! Could you help me? Where can I find a score of Aria Pastorella in B flat major by Johannes Justinus Will?

Besten Dank für dieses schöne Schatzkästlein gefüllt mit wenig bekannten Barock-Preziosen. Die Engelfiguren vor der Orgel (welcher?) sehen wirklich putzig aus, stammen aber nicht aus dem 18. Jahrhundert, oder?

Remarks to CD Volume 90 / SPITZFLOET / Volume 1 - The South German Baroque around 1700: _____________________ Organ music in Europe flourished in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Southern Germany's organ literature also made use of the colorful tonal richness of the instruments from Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. There was and still is much to discover today. The recordings presented here offer a brief insight into the surprising wealth of forms of baroque compositions from the regional repertoire as well as into the rich musical treasure troves of famous but also little-known composers who wrote their works for the southern German "Queen of Instruments". -------------------------- COMPOSERS: Sebastian Anton (Antonius) Scherer (1631-1712) Sebastian Anton Scherer was baptized in Ulm (Baden-Württemberg) in 1631. His father was Peter Scherer, a pastry baker from Strasbourg (Alsace). Sebastian initially attended the Latin school in Ulm and was admitted to the grammar school there in 1649. Nothing more is known about his musical education. However, it is obvious that he had an extensive basic education given the scope of music lessons at Latin schools and grammar schools at the time, which included daily choral singing, instrumental lessons for gifted pupils and several hours of music theory per week. In 1653, he was employed by the city council of Ulm as "Stadtmusicus" and also as "Vice-Organist". He had previously demonstrated his skills by playing "as wol uf der Violen als uf der Orgel von seinen eigenen componirten stuckhen" before and after the sermon. In 1668 he was appointed "Director musices" and took over the direction of the Collegium Musicum in Ulm. After the death of his father-in-law Tobias Eberlin (1590-1671), Scherer took over his position as organist of Ulm Minster. He held this position until the end of his life. In 1684/85 he is also said to have been organist at St. Thomas in Strasbourg. With his works, Sebastian Anton Scherer was a typical representative of the southern German music tradition of the early Baroque period. His instrumental compositions were mainly written in the style of Girolamo Frescobaldi. -------------------------- Georg Caspar Wecker (1632-1695) Georg Caspar Wecker was born in Nuremberg (Bavaria) in 1632. Wecker's parents were Agnes, née Schneider, and Johann Wecker. Although the latter was a gold spinner by trade, he was also a musician and instrumentalist, as Georg learned the basics of music from him. The Nuremberg composer and organist Johann Erasmus Kindermann (1616-1655) was Wecker's next teacher, from whom he learned so much that he was already able to accompany church music performances at the Regal in Nuremberg at the age of 16. After a temporary position as preceptor at the school of St. Sebald (1650), Wecker's professional career progressed according to the typical promotion scheme for Nuremberg organists at the time to the most prestigious position: he worked at the chapel of St. Walburg in 1651, at the Frauenkirche in 1654, at St. Egidien in 1658 and finally at St. Sebald in 1686 as successor to Paul Hainlein (1626-1686). He held this position until the end of his life and was succeeded by his pupil Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706). From 1658, Wecker was married to Anna Maria Löhner, with whom he had nine children. Georg Caspar Wecker is an important link in the teacher-pupil tradition of the Nuremberg School of the 17th century and further to its fourth-generation pupils. For his own further education, he preferred to collect and study compositions by the Viennese court conductor Antonio Bertali (1605-1669). Georg Caspar had a large circle of pupils as music teachers, including Johann Krieger (1651-1735), Benedikt Schultheiß (1653-1693), Nicolaus Vetter (1666-1734) and Christian Friedrich Witt (1665-1717). The Nuremberg musicians of his time particularly cultivated the semi-spiritual song, which was called the "aria". It was based partly on the sacred song and partly on the Italian secular opera aria. This musical form is often found in various forms in Wecker's works. -------------------------- Bartholomaeus Weisthoma (1639-1717) came from a family based in Eichstaett (Bavaria) and was also born there. His father Melchior was a coppersmith. There is no information about Weisthoma's schooling and musical education. It was not until 1657 that a court musician by the name of "Bartholme" - presumably Weisthoma - was mentioned in a list, who received daily rations from the kitchen of Willibaldsburg Castle (the residence of the Prince-Bishop of Eichstaett). In 1664, the now organist and court musician married Maria Elisabeth Kircher, the daughter of an Eichstaett court councillor. In 1665, he signed an apprenticeship contract as a "testis rogatus" (seal witness) for a two-year military timpanist apprenticeship; in the same year, he received a gratuity of eight Reichstalers for a mass dedicated to the Eichstätt cathedral chapter. Because the Eichstaett prince-bishop Marquard II (1605-1685) moved to Regensburg (Bavaria) in 1669 as the imperial principal commissioner to the Imperial Diet together with the court chapel, Weisthoma was godfather to several children of the court chapel master Wolfgang Caspar Printz (1635-1717) between 1675 and 1684. Several documents in which Bartholomaeus is listed as court organist and composer of four-part Latin cantorial movements (modulos) prove that Weisthoma's connection to Eichstaett was not severed despite his relocation to Regensburg. In 1697, 1699 and 1701, Weisthoma was involved in negotiations about the construction of a new organ in Eichstaett Cathedral, which has given rise to the assumption that he worked there temporarily as cathedral organist. After that, no trace of his professional activities is found. His wife Maria Elisabeth died in 1695 and in 1721 he ended his busy life at the age of 82. To date, only 6 organ works by Weissthoma are known, and there is no more detailed information about his life. But as court organist in Eichstaett, Weissthoma certainly had good musical contacts with the nearby monastery of St. Walburg. It is therefore reasonable to assume that some works from the manuscript collection of this monastery - the organ book of St. Walburg in Eichstaett - dating from around 1700 were written by him. -------------------------- Franz Xaver Murschhauser (1663-1738) Murschhauser was born in 1663 in Saverne near Strasbourg (Alsace) and is first mentioned in 1676 as a singer and instrumentalist at the Petersschule in Munich (Bavaria). He first studied music with the cantor Siegmund Auer and later, from 1683, with Johann Caspar Kerll (1627-1693). Murschhauser was appointed director of music at Munich's Frauenkirche in 1691, where he remained until his death. His compositions include two collections of organ music in the tradition of the South German school, intended for use in the Catholic liturgy; they consist of short toccatas, fantasias and fugues written using psalm tunes and lament melodies. There are other works for keyboard instruments, and he also published two works on the subject of music theory, intended for teaching the art of composition. These treatises were described at the time as conservative and decidedly "old-fashioned" because of their treatment of the subject, as they still adhered to the contrapuntal practice of sacred music of the late 16th century. _______________

Wunderbar klangmalerisch und entspannt gespielt - Sehr schön & besten Dank! Die letzte spätgotische Kathedrale von Spanien in Sevovia hatte ich erst vor einer Woche zufällig gegoogled und nun kann ich hier dieses Baujuwel aussen wie innen im Detail bewundern; muss wohl Telepathie gewesen sein... ;-)

Ganz toll gemacht - Herzlichen Dank! Die BVG-Glocke im "Redeuntes in idem" hat durch ihren speziellen Tonaufbau tatsächlich einen mittelalterlich erscheinenden Klangcharakter und wirkt hier zusammen mit den Orgelklängen sehr charaktervoll! Auch die anderen Orgelwerke von "Meyster Conradus" im Video werden wunderbar stimmungsvoll interpretiert. Bravo!

Die Orgelmusik von Johannes Speth hat wesentlich mehr Popularität verdient, als sie bisher erfahren hat. Hoffentlich kann diese klangschöne und kontemplative Interpretation seiner Werke dazu beitragen, Speths Musik mehr Aufmerksamkeit zu verschaffen. Vielen Dank für die Einspielung!

Besten Dank für die interessanten Einblicke in ein ehemaliges Kloster und die eingängige und mir bisher unbekannte Orgelmusik von Johannes Pacher. Speziell die hier vorgestellte Toccata besitzt einen charmanten Ohrwurm-Charakter. Sind die tiefen Glockenklänge am Schluss des Videos reale Tonaufnahmen von der Klosterkirche?

Interessanter Kanal mit wunderbarer Musik! Vielleicht können Sie mir einen Tip geben. Ich soll kleine Stückchen zur Messbegleitung spielen (im abgelegenen sw Frankreich's vor den Pyreneen) ich habe keine große Klavier oder gar Orgelausbildung und bin auch nicht gerade ein echtes Naturtalent. Im Moment spiele ich einfache Stückchen von Pachelbel oder der französischen Orgelklassik, alles manualiter. Können Sie vielleicht ein oder zwei Komponisten empfehlen, die relativ einfache manualiter Werke geschrieben haben und dabei doch musikalisch "gut" (für das Laienohr ohne übermäßige Dissonanzen ) klingen und "andächtigen" Charakter haben? Ich glaube möglichst viele Stücke vom Blatt zu spielen könnte mich etwas weiterbringen. Vielen Dank

Danke für die anmutige Interpretation dieser gotischen Klang-Preziosen!

Remarks to "OLDIES BUT GOODIES IN OLD WALLS": The majestic Tratzberg Castle is a late Gothic fortress perched high above the Inn Valley between Jenbach and Schwaz in Tyrol, Austria. In 1296 a castle named "Trazperch" was mentioned in this place, which was destroyed by fire in 1490/91. Emperor Maximilian I. was the owner of the castle. He used Tratzberg at that time as a hunting lodge. Probably many a melody from the instrumental pieces of the Buxheim Organ Book was played there at that time and was gladly heard. In 1499, Maximilian gave the ruins to the brothers Veit-Jakob and Simon Tänzl in exchange for Berneck Castle in the Kaunertal Valley, with the stipulations that Tratzberg be rebuilt. Starting in 1500, a complex of four three-story wings with courtyard and stair tower, portals and arcades, columns, window sills and chimneys in Hagau marble was built in a construction period of 8 years. The northern wing was not finished. It was probably there that many a melody from the instrumental pieces of the Buxheim Organ Book was played and gladly heard at that time. In 1553, the heirs of the Tänzl brothers sold the castle, which has since undergone numerous changes of ownership and associated changes throughout its history. The union with the vacant lots in the north, as well as the suggestive painting of the facade in the castle courtyard, are attributed to the knight Georg Ilsung and his family in the second half of the sixteenth century. From that moment on, his sons added "von Schloss Tratzberg" to their name. By inheritance, the castle passed to the Augusta Fugger merchant family in 1589, who profited mainly from the nearby copper and silver mining in Schwaz (Tyrol). Georg Ilsung's daughter Anna had married Jacob III Fugger. The Fuggerstube and Fuggerkammer in the castle are still reminders of the famous patrician family from Augsburg (Bavaria). In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Stauber-Imhof, von der Halden and Josef Ignaz families followed as owners as "Reichsfreiherren von Tannenberg". Since the middle of the 18th century, however, the castle was no longer inhabited. In 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars, Bavarian soldiers looted the armory and demolished part of the furnishings. When the Enzenberg family acquired the castle by succession in 1847, long restoration works were necessary to make everything habitable again. Today Tratzberg is still the residence of the Goëss-Enzenberg family. Ulrich and his wife Katrin Goëss-Enzenberg have been living here since 1991; the last major restoration work in 1991-1994 and the subsequent tourist development can be traced back to this generation of Enzenbergs. Tratzberg Castle is considered an outstanding example of a Renaissance castle complex in the Alpine region.

Remarks to "JOSEPH WALKS - EISENSTADT" The magnificent Esterházy Castle is the landmark and most important cultural monument of the provincial capital Eisenstadt. The origins of the complex date back to a Gothic castle from the 13th century, which became the property of the Esterházy family in 1649. Under Prince Paul I Esterházy, the estate was converted into a Baroque palace, which remained the main residence and event center of the princely family for more than 300 years. The Esterházy family was one of the most influential and wealthy noble families of the Habsburg Empire. The palace owes its significance in music history to the composer Joseph Haydn, who was inspired by the special atmosphere of the Esterházy court for more than 40 years and made history with his extraordinary music. The Haydn Hall named after him is still one of the most beautiful and acoustically best concert halls in the world. Even today, the palace in Eisenstadt is the center of cultural events and a radiant setting for festivals and social events. The palace park of Eisenstadt is one of the most important garden-architectural monuments in Austria. The Leopoldine Temple there is certainly the most artistically significant scenery - a circular temple with Egyptianizing columns built by Charles de Moreau (1758-1840) in 1806 on an artificial rocky hill. Prince Nicholas II dedicated this temple to his daughter Princess Leopoldine. Joseph Haydn's vineyard was also located in this area. There are plans and contracts for Haydn's vineyard sales for it. A show vineyard was replanted at this place. At the time of its completion in the first half of the 19th century, the Orangery in Eisenstadt was one of the largest and most modern greenhouses in Austria, along with Schönbrunn (Vienna). The Palm House was once famous for its magnificent palms and other exotic plants. As early as the 18th and 19th centuries, in addition to the palace, the garden and the orangery grounds were included in the planning of major social events of the Esterházy princes. The Franciscan church and convent in Haydn-Gasse were founded around 1386. In 1630 the church was consecrated in honor of St. Michael the Archangel and given to the Franciscan convent, which had already been founded in 1625. In the gallery we can admire another Haydn organ from the 18th century. The Diocesan Museum, established in the historic rooms of the Franciscan monastery, displays ecclesiastical art of the Burgenland region in its exhibition collection. Church music was always a high priority for Joseph Haydn. Although originally employed for secular instrumental music, Haydn also always contributed to church music at court and in Eisenstadt out of strong personal motivation. The mighty late Gothic St. Martin's Cathedral dates from the second half of the 15th century, the fortified tower from the beginning of the 16th century. The founder and builder of the present church is Hans Siebenhirter, who had been the lord of the manor of Eisenstadt since 1463. Over the years, the building was adapted to the requirements of its time. The "Haydn Organ" built in 1778 by the Vienna-based organ builder Gottfried Mallek, originally from Bohemia, is one of the most beautiful and popular baroque organs in Austria. The construction of the organ is said to have been advised by Joseph Haydn. Haydn stood godfather at baptisms in the town parish church fourteen times between 1763 and 1800 and acted as a witness at weddings three times. The Church of the Barmherzigen Brueder (Brothers of Mercy) was probably built in 1739 by Prince Anton Esterházy in place of an older chapel. The high baroque church is dedicated to St. Anthony. In 1757 the prince then called the Viennese "Brothers of Mercy" to Eisenstadt (a convent that cared for the poor and needy). Noteworthy is the beautifully decorated iron grille with the alliance coat of arms of the founder of the church Prince Anton Esterházy around 1740. In the church there is one of the Haydn organs of Eisenstadt. Haydn's mass "In honorem Sancti Joanni de Deo" (Small Organ Solo Mass) composed for this organ is well known to music connoisseurs and Haydn lovers from all over the world. The mountain church "Maria Heimsuchung", which is attached to the west of the Eisenstadt Calvary, was originally planned by Prince Paul Esterházy in 1715 as a huge pilgrimage church, but only the presbytery was built in 1765. The entire complex was then completed by 1803. Several mass compositions were premiered here under the direction of Haydn. Under the north tower is the Haydn mausoleum. After his death he was first buried in Vienna, transferred to Eisenstadt in 1820 and buried in the mausoleum in 1954. The Calvary is an artificial hill made of sandstone and theatrically depicts the Passion of Christ through life-size painted wooden figures in moving scenes in a confined space in chapels, niches and grottos. ________________________________________

Eine eindrucksvolle Klosteranlage, die mal einen Besuch wert wäre. Danke für die schönen Video- und Geläute-Impressionen. Das es einen süddeutschen, nur wenig älteren und zudem exakt gleichnamigen Namensvetter von Johann Jakob Walther im barocken Musik-Business gab, war mir bisher völlig entgangen. Eine interessante Entdeckung!

Remarks to "SACRED TREASURES - #5 NEUSTIFT ABBEY": The picturesque village of Neustift belongs to the municipality of Vahrn near Brixen (South Tyrol) and lies tranquilly surrounded by vineyards on the Eisack River.... There you will find the imposing monastery complex of the Augustinian canons' monastery - the largest monastery complex in Tyrol. The first church building was founded by Bishop Hartmann of Brixen around 1142. After a devastating fire on November 6, 1198, the new collegiate church with the mighty bell tower and the three-nave nave was built. In 1485, the late Gothic high choir with its impressive roof covered with green glazed tiles was built. The interior of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was changed several times in the following centuries and received its present form during the construction period from 1735 to 1744 by the famous master builder Giuseppe Carlo Delai (ca.1670-1737). From the Romanesque nave and the Gothic choir he created a "harmony of seven centuries and three architectural styles". The stucco was created by various masters from Wessobrunn (Bavaria), the frescoes are masterpieces by Matthäus Günther (1705-1788) from Augsburg. The bells of the monastery church are the work of the Trent bell foundry Luigi Colbacchini from the year 1922. The organ of the collegiate church was built in 1759-1761 by Alexander Holzhey (1722-1772) with the help of Joseph Antoni Simnacher (1722-1796) with 35 stops and carillon. It was conceived with its placement quasi as an organ and counter-organ. The magnificent organ cases on the left and right side of the gallery have been preserved until today. The organ work was newly created in 2014 by the workshop Metzler Orgelbau from Dietikon (Switzerland) using the historic front pipes and installed in the existing historic two-part organ case. Today, the slider chest instrument has 42 sounding stops (plus 3 transmissions) on three manuals and pedal. The key action and stop action are mechanical. _______________________ Johann Jakob Walther (1658-1706) - Toccata in d The composition of the "Toccata in d" is by Johann Jakob Walther. He was born around 1658 probably in Poysdorf (Lower Austria) and died in 1706 in Konstanz (Baden-Wuerttemberg). Whether Walther, when he began his studies at the University of Innsbruck in 1676 and also took courses in theology, may also have been a (organ) student of the Innsbruck court organist Severin Schwaighofer (1640-1700) at that time is possible but not proven. In any case, Johann Jakob was graduated from the Alma Mater in Innsbruck in 1679 as a Master of Philosophy. From 1682 to 1696 he held the prestigious office of cathedral organist of Brixen in Tyrol (today Bressanone / Alto Adige). Within this time Walther was also musically active in the neighboring monastery Neustift. After the death of his wife in 1693, he received the priestly ordination in 1694. In 1696 Walther entered the service of the Damenstift of Hall in Tyrol as "Kapellmeister" until 1703, when he took up his last post, that of "Domkapellmeister" of Constance in Baden-Wuerttemberg. A good forty of his "Clavierkompositionen" have survived, scattered about. Almost all or especially the anonymous pieces of the "Sammelhandschrift von Stams" are miniatures of individual design. Johann Jakob Walther is not to be confused with the German violinist and composer of the same name (ca. 1650-1717).

Eine zauberhafte Orgel-Interpretation mit wunderbar stimmigen Video-Impressionen - Herzlichen Dank!

beautiful album

Und wieder mal eine schön bunte Mischung (von meist kaum bekannten) organistischen Klangpralinen für Geniesser...🙂 Die Schmelzer Stücke sind aber keine originalen Tastenwerke, oder doch? Und die Pachelbel-Ciacona in d ist eines meiner Lieblingsstücke und erinnert mich an eine amüsante Begebenheit mit dieser Musik vor gut 10 Jahren in Karlsruhe, die ich in einem Video festhielt. Zum vollen Verständnis muss man aber den Infotext zum Video lesen: th-cam.com/video/iatbHerBjWk/w-d-xo.html

Remarks to CD Volume 88 / THE VIENNA ORGANBOOK / Volume 6 - Music around 1700 at the Imperial court of the Habsburgs: _______________________ Johann Caspar Kerll (1627-1693) He came from the Vogtland region of Saxony (Germany), where he was born in Adorf in 1627, the son of a Protestant organist and organ builder. The Austrian Archduke Leopold Wilhelm enabled Kerll to receive a comprehensive musical education with Giovanni Valentini in Vienna, also with Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674) and Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) in Rome. There he also met Frescobaldi's pupil Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-1667), who - like Kerll - had to convert to the Catholic faith due to his employment with the Habsburgs. Through the mediation of Archduchess Maria Anna, the sister of his Viennese mentor and the widow of the Bavarian Elector Maximilian I, he took over the direction of the Munich court orchestra in 1656. Emperor Leopold I (1640-1705) elevated Johann Caspar Kerll to the peerage in 1664. In 1674, the latter moved to Vienna because of "constant intrigues", he moved to Vienna to become cathedral and court organist. After the siege of Vienna by the Turks in 1683, he returned to Munich, where he died - after another stay in Rome - on February 13, 1693. Johann Caspar Kerll composed numerous operas, of which unfortunately only one Jesuit drama has survived. He enriched church music with about 15 masses, 2 requiems and several sacred chants. Kerll attained special importance, however, as a composer of music for keyboard instruments. His toccatas, canzonas, capricci, passacaglias, ricercari, dance suites and chaconnes are among the most outstanding works of their genre. _______________________ Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c. 1623-1680) Near Göttweig Abbey - in Scheibbs (Lower Austria) - Johann Heinrich Schmelzer was born between 1620 and 1623. Schmelzer's family came from humble beginnings: his father was a craftsman and also proved himself as a soldier in the imperial army. Johann Heinrich received his first musical education probably from a court musician in Vienna. At St. Stephen's Cathedral there, he began his musical career in 1643, initially as "instrumentalis musicus" and as "cornetist". In 1649 Schmelzer was then appointed violinist with the Vienna court music band. In 1658, as director of instrumental music, he accompanied Emperor Leopold I to the coronation in Frankfurt (Germany), and in 1665 he traveled with him to Innsbruck (Tyrol). From that year on, he was active as a ballet composer for the imperial court. Subsequently, he gained more and more European fame as a musician. "The most famous and almost most distinguished violist in all of Europe," his contemporaries praised him. In Vienna, Schmelzer climbed the career ladder at a rapid pace: he provided the music for almost all of the court's festive events, including a horse ballet that caused a sensation throughout Europe. In gratitude, the emperor presented him several times with gold chains; at that time one of the signs of extraordinary favor. In 1673, Schmelzer was elevated to the peerage, and six years later was appointed Imperial Court Kapellmeister - the first non-Italian to do so since the beginning of the 17th century. A short time later, the "emperor's violinist" succumbed to the plague in Prague (Czech Republic). _______________________ Georg Reutter the Elder (1656-1738) He was probably a student of Johann Caspar von Kerll, whom he succeeded as organist at St. Stephen's Cathedral in 1686. In 1697, he was employed as theorbist in the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle. From 1700 he was court and chamber organist of the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle. In 1712 Reutter succeeded Johann Joseph Fux as vice-principal conductor of St. Stephen's, and received the position of Kapellmeister "at the Gnadenbild". In the cathedral of St. Stephen's there were two different music bands at that time, first the actual cathedral music band and second the "zum ungarischen Gnadenbild". Together, the two bands were also used in various churches in Vienna, for which the members received a special fee, such as the Hofburgkapelle, the Jesuits, Scots, Dominicans, Augustinians, Capuchins, Carmelites, Paulans, Ursulines, Black Spaniards of Montserrat, St. Joseph, the Xavieri and Favoritkapelle, but also in Schönbrunn, Laxenburg and Klosterneuburg. From 1715 Reutter finally became first Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. Numerous sacred musical works by Georg Reutter the Elder have been preserved, such as masses and pieces in various instrumentations. He also wrote several works for organ and other keyboard instruments. His son Georg Reutter the Younger (1708-1772) attained a greater reputation as a composer. _______________________ Johann Baptist Peyer (around 1678-1733) Johann Baptist Peyer, also called Payer, Peyr, Bayer, Beyer, was born in Vienna.. From 1698 he was organist and music teacher at Heiligenkreuz Abbey (Lower Austria), and between 1699/1712 he also served there as prefect of the choirboys. From 1712 to 1720 Peyer was organist to Eleonore Magdalena Theresia, the widow of Emperor Leopold I, and then, on a recommendation from Johann Joseph Fux, imperial organist in the court chapel of Emperor Charles VI. Together with Johann Kaspar Ferdinand Fischer (1656-1746) and Gottlieb Muffat (1690-1770), Johann Baptist Peyer is one of the important representatives of liturgical keyboard music of Austro-Bohemian provenance in the early 18th century. _______________________ Johann Pachelbel (!653-1706) Johann Pachelbel received a solid humanistic education, among other things from 1670 in Regensburg (Bavaria), where, in addition to his studies at the Gymnasium poeticum, he took lessons from Kaspar Prentz, a pupil of Johann Caspar Kerll (1627-1693), who at that time familiarized him with the latest Italian music. Possibly on the advice or mediation of Prentz, Pachelbel went to Vienna, where he was taught by Kerll. From 1673 to 1677 he worked as vicar and organist at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, also as court organist. Pachelbel's importance in the history of music is due the fact that he was one of the spiritual ancestors of Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music. His contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue earned him a place among the most important composers of the high baroque era. Pachelbel's music enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime; he had many students and his music became a model for the composers of southern and central Germany. He was influenced by other southern German composers, such as Johann Jakob Froberger and Johann Caspar Kerll, Italians such as Girolamo Frescobaldi and Alessandro Poglietti, French composers, and the composers of the Nuremberg tradition. He preferred a lucid, uncomplicated contrapuntal style that emphasized melodic and harmonic clarity. His music is less virtuosic and not as adventurous in terms of harmonies as that of Dieterich Buxtehude, although, like Buxtehude.

Благодарю за Ваш труд , редкая и красивая музыка

You should have at least a million views for these videos. I listen to them while I do paperwork at home for my business. Ich liebe diese Musik, das Beste.

Der freche Algorithmus von TH-cam behauptet oben unter dem Infotext ein Track sei von Tamás Zászkaliczky eingespielt worden. Solche Falsch-Zuschreibungen sind enorm häufig bei TH-cam und werden vermutlich absichtlich so unsauber erstellt, um mehr Werbung wegen angeblichen Copyright-Schutz abspielen zu können. Aber lohnt sich der Aufwand dagegen vorzugehen?

Eine sehr klangsinnliche und kontemplative Musik. Besten Dank für die schöne Einspielung!

Remarks to CD Volume 87 / IL TRANSILVANO _________________________ Girolamo Mancini detto Diruta was born between 1554 and 1564 in Deruta (Perugia, Umbria). The first biographical records of the organist and music theorist date from 1574, when Diruta entered the order of the "Frati Minori Conventuali" of Correggio (Reggio Emilia). There he probably received his first music lessons from Padre Battista Capuani. He then left Correggio and stayed in various other towns. To deepen his musical studies, Diruta went to Venice around 1580, where he heard an incomparably appealing competition playing on two organs at the famous church of San Marco. He was immediately interested in getting to know the two organ masters of San Marco and in this way became acquainted with Claudio Merulo (1533-1604) and Andrea Gabrieli (1533-1585). Girolamo remained in Venice and received musical instruction from Gioseffo Zarlino (1517-1590), Costanzo Porta (ca. 1528-1601), also from Claudio Merulo. A friendly relationship between Diruta and Merulo, who had been organist at San Marco since 1557, lasted at most until 1584, when Merulo left Venice. Contacts with Costanzo Porta, also a Franciscan friar, date back to the period between 1580 and 1589 in Ravenna (Emilia-Romagna). Diruta first worked in Venice at the church of Santa Maria dei Frari until 1593, then from that year on as cathedral organist of Chioggia (Veneto). He held this post at least until 1602, when in a letter to the magistrate of Deruta he expressed his intention to return to the city of his birth. This wish was apparently fulfilled, because from 1609 at the latest Diruta was then employed near Deruta as cathedral organist in Gubbio (Umbria). When Girolamo's second reprint of the first part of his "Il Transilvano" appeared in 1612, the composer still held his post in Gubbio. For the period after that there is no more information about him, so that neither the place nor the date of his death (after 1613 ?) have become known. Girolamo Diruta achieved special significance with "Il Transilvano": this was actually intended as a musical instructional work, which Girolamo first had printed in Venice in 1593. The author wanted to describe the playing practice on organ, harpsichord and clavichord in Italy at that time. The fact that the work went through a total of 4 editions and reprints (1593, 1597, 1612 and 1625) over a period of 32 years suggests its importance for the training of keyboard players in northern Italy and beyond, considering the cultural importance of the Veneto at that time. In it, Diruta laid out with memorable directness the rules for proper playing and supplemented his treatises with 13 compositions both by himself and by other organists whose names read like a "who's who" list of famous artists from northern Italy on the cusp of the Cinquecento to the Settecento: Claudio Merulo (1533-1604), Andrea Gabrieli (1533-1585), Giovanni Gabrieli (1557ca-1612), Luzzasco Luzzaschi (1545ca-1607), Antonio Romanini (1560ca-1600), Paolo Quagliati (1555-1628), Vicenzo Bell'Haver (1540ca-1587), Gioseffo Guami (1542-1611), Antonio Mortaro (1570ca-1619), Gabriele Fattorini (1570ca-1615ca) and Adriano Banchieri (1568-1634). The first part of this work (1593 Venice) is dedicated to the "Serenissimo Prencipe di Transilvania il Signor Sigismondo Battori" (reigned 1588-1598). Prince Sigismund Báthory was a grandson of the Polish king, a great general and patron of the arts, who received many Italian musicians at his princely court in Gyulafehervár (then Transylvania, now Alba Iulia in Romania). Transylvania is a region in the center of Romania, from which the overall title "Il Transilvano" might be explained. The contact between Prince Sigismund Báthory and Diruta was most probably established by the Prince's chancellor, István Jósika, who had to deal with political matters during several visits to Italy and also recruited Italian musicians. Diruta dedicated the second part of "Il Transilvano" (1609 Venice) no longer to Prince Sigismund Báthory but to the "Illustrissima Signora Duchessa Leonora Ursina Sforza", because in the meantime the political circumstances in Transylvania had changed considerably. Jósika had been arrested and beheaded, and Prince Báthory's reign had come to an end. The work was first printed in Venice in 1609 and consists of four books. Again, the first book contains 17 compositions by both Diruta himself and other organists, all of which can be heard on this release, as can all the pieces from Part 1.

Herzlichen Dank für die Interpretation von „Angelus ad Pastores ait“ von Scheidemann! Diese ist, wie erwartet, eine wunderbar einfühlsame Klangmalerei geworden, welche die Ankunft und Ansprache des Engels vor den Hirten sehr sinnlich und treffsicher illustriert. Aber auch die anderen hier versammelten Werke von Scheidemann und H. Praetorius wurden ebenso souverän und geschmackvoll realisiert. Also abermals eine sehr gelungene Produktion!

A gorgeous rendition of my favorite piece of classical music. Carries the weighty passion necessary for it - the organ is surprisingly fitting for this masterpiece

Remarks to CD Volume 86 / THE NORTH GERMAN ORGAN MUSIC AROUND 1600 - Volume 3 _________________________ Volume 3 contains some examples from the works of two Hamburg composers - well-known representatives of the "North German Organ School". These are truly significant testimonies of church music from the turn of the century of the Reformation to the 17th century, which during its first 50 years in Germany was not only marked by the catastrophe of the Thirty Years' War, but also produced an exceedingly rich music. ___________________ Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629) is the first prominent member of an important dynasty of 17th century Hamburg organists and church musicians. He received his first musical education from his father, the composer and organist Jacob Praetorius "the Elder" (ca. 1520-1586). He later continued this in Cologne. In 1580 he accepted a two-year term of service as city cantor in Erfurt. In 1582 Hieronymus became substitute and in 1586 successor of his father at St. Jakobi and additionally organist and church clerk at St. Gertruden in Hamburg. In 1596 he took part in the famous organist meeting in Gröningen near Halberstadt (Saxony-Anhalt), where 54 organists (!) - among them Cajus Schmiedlein from Danzig, Hans Leo Haßler from Augsburg, Johann Steffens from Lüneburg, Michael Praetorius from Wolfenbüttel and Joachim a Burck from Mühlhausen - had come together to test and examine the newly built castle church organ by David Beck. Hieronymus Praetorius held his double office as organist and church clerk at St. Jakobi and St. Gertruden in high esteem, until he finally received his son Jakob as a substitute in 1625 due to "old age and weakness". "Praetorius," by the way, is a Latinization of the common German name Schultheiß or Schulte or Schulze and was often used at that time. Hieronymus compositional output includes mainly works for organ as well as vocal music, various chorales, masses, kyries, psalms, magnificats, and hymns. He is considered one of the founders of the North German organ school. _________________________ Heinrich Scheidemann (c. 1596-1663) was born in Wöhrden (Schleswig-Holstein). He received his first music lessons from his father David Scheidemann (1570-1625), who was first organist in Wöhrden and from 1604 at the Katharinenkirche in Hamburg. From 1611 to 1614, Heinrich and his friend Jacob Praetorius (1586-1651) took up a three-year course of study with the organist Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1561-1621), who was very important at the time, in Amsterdam (Netherlands), which was financed by the congregation of St. Catherine's Church. The background to this scholarship was the wish of all Hamburg's main churches that their future organists receive training from Sweelinck. In 1629, Heinrich Scheidemann succeeded his father as organist at the Church of St. Katharinen in Hamburg. He held this office for the rest of his life. Through his work and his influence on other organists and cantors, Scheidemann achieved a high reputation in Hamburg's musical life and was considered an outstanding organ master. He also appraised numerous organs in northern Germany. His most important pupil was Johann Adam Reincken (1643-1722), who succeeded Heinrich as organist at the church of St. Katharinen after his death. Heinrich Scheidemann is also considered a co-founder of the "North German Organ School," which combined Sweelinck's style with the North German Baroque tradition, and is considered the most important composer of organ works of the early 17th century. His compositional works include mainly chorale preludes, chorales for organ, magnificates, sacred songs, Kyrie and dance movements. _________________________

Wonderful compilation of little-known organ music! Probably my favorite set of music was from Johannes Justinus Will. Would you happen to know which organ (of the 3 you mentioned in the description) his pieces were recorded with?

Further remarks to CD Volume 85 / THE NORTH GERMAN ORGAN MUSIC AROUND 1600 - Volume 2: _________________________ Johann Steffens (1560-1616) Steffens' father, Heinrich Steffens, was a member of the council of Itzehoe (Schleswig-Holstein) and had his son educated at great expense because of his musical talent. Johann Steffens studied, among others, with an organ maker, probably Hans Scherer the Elder (1535ca-1611) in Hamburg. In 1589 the governor of Schleswig-Holstein, Heinrich Rantzau, recommended Johann Steffens to the Lüneburg council for an organist position at the Lambertikirche. Since the Duchess Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1546-1617) had better relations with the council and suggested someone else, he was not accepted at first. However, when the organist position at St. Johannis became vacant, a new opportunity arose. After initially taking the post on a provisional basis in 1593, Steffens was finally given the position in 1595. His high reputation is evidenced by the fact that he participated in the famous appraisal of the new organ of Gröningen (Saxony-Anhalt) near Halberstadt, together with 54 of the most respected German organ masters. At times Johann Steffens taught so many students that the churchwardens were concerned about the good condition of the organ. Steffens remained in Lüneburg until his death. As an instrument Johann Steffens had at his disposal a "trefflich Werck von 27. Stimmen/ gar hell vnd scharff" with three manuals and pedal - built in 1551 by Hendrik Niehoff (1495-1560). Together with Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629) of the same age in Hamburg, Johann Steffens laid the foundation of that development of organ music which was to unfold in many facets over a century and a half in the area of Lutheranism, especially in northern Germany, and which has been called the "North German Organ School" since Max Seiffert's 1891 study. _________________________ Joachim Decker (1565ca-1611) Joachim Decker was born around 1565, the son of Eberhard Decker, the cantor at Hamburg's Johanneum. It can be assumed that he attended this school and received music lessons from his father. In 1596 Joachim became organist at the Nikolaikirche and retained this post throughout his life. In 1604, Decker, together with his colleagues from the other three main churches in Hamburg, Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629), his son Jacob Praetorius (1586-1651) and David Scheidemann (father of Heinrich Scheidemann, 1570-1625), published the "Melodeyen Gesangbuch". This hymnal contains 88 four-part sets of church songs, 29 of which are by Decker. They are mostly plain and lead the main voice in descant. Decker was married to Christina Ossenbrügge († 1630). Her father Johannes was pastor in Eppendorf (Saxony) and later pastor (deaconus) at the Nikolaikirche in Hamburg. His son Johannes Decker (1598-1668) was organist at Hamburg Cathedral. _________________________ Paul Siefert (1586-1666) Among the most important East German musicians of Heinrich Schütz's contemporaries was Paul Siefert, who was born in Danzig (Gdańsk, Poland). The son of a municipal procurator, he received a scholarship from the Danzig council in 1607 to study music with the then famous Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck in Amsterdam. Having been a pupil of Sweelinck was a recognized distinction and led to special renown, as Sweelinck was considered "the organist maker" in northern Germany. After his return from Amsterdam, Siefert was initially an assistant ("substitute") to the aging organist Cajus Schmidtlein (1555ca-1611) at the Great Organ of St. Mary's Church in Gdansk. After Schmidtlein's death, he did not immediately become his successor, but was first employed as organist at the Old Town Church in Königsberg until 1616, and then as organist at the Warsaw Court Chapel. In 1623, news reached Siefert in Prague of the death of Michael Weida, the organist at St. Mary's in Gdansk, whereupon he immediately traveled to Gdansk and applied for the vacant position. It had already been offered to Samuel Scheidt, who himself declined, but brought his brother Gottfried to Gdansk to apply. After the organist rehearsal, Siefert received the appointment as organist at the Great Organ of St. Mary's Church for life. With his instrumental music, Paul Siefert made a valuable contribution to the development of organ and piano music in the 17th century in particular. _________________________ Melchior Schildt (1592-1667) He was the member of an important family of organists from Hanover and Wolfenbüttel (Lower Saxony), dating back to Gerd Schildt (1547-1569, organist at the Aegidienkirche). Melchior received his first musical instruction probably from his father Antonius Schildt († 1629) and was also a pupil of the cantor Andreas Crappius (1542-1623). In 1609, like Paul Siefert, Samuel Scheidt, and the brothers Jacob and Johann Praetorius before him, he apprenticed with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck in Amsterdam, where he probably remained until 1612. In 1623 Melchior Schildt then became organist at the main church in Wolfenbüttel. In 1626 he accepted a call from King Christian IV of Denmark (1577-1648) to the post of court organist. In May 1629 Schildt left Copenhagen to succeed his father Antonius Schildt as organist of the Marktkirche in Hanover, a post he held until the end of his life. Melchior Schildt was married twice. His second marriage produced four children, only two of whom survived their father. He was a wealthy man and probably owed this in part to his appearances at the court of Duke Christian Ludwig, but especially to the fortune that his first wife had brought with her into the marriage and that also formed the basis for an extensive foundation that the couple established in 1652. Almost all of Schildt's surviving organ works are chorale arrangements. They vary widely, showing us a remarkable example of the continuity with which early Protestant church music cultivated its hymn repertoire and made it great through permanent editing. _________________________ Andreas Düben (1597-1650ca) Born in Leipzig, he was accepted at the university there as early as 1609. But soon - in 1614 - he was drawn to Amsterdam to Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, the well-known and famous organist of the Oude Kerk. The most important Sweelinck source "Lynar A1" was most likely written by Sweelinck's pupil Andreas Düben (1597-1662), later the leading son of the Leipzig Thomas organist Andreas Düben (1555-1625) in Stockholm (Sweden), but mainly in Amsterdam (Netherlands). Of all his pupils, Düben spent the longest period in Amsterdam (1614-1620), probably serving as assistant to Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck during the latter's last years. A year after moving from Leipzig to Sweden in 1624, Andreas Düben accepted the position of court organist in Stockholm. He remained loyal to this city and later worked there as organist of the German St. Gertrud Church and as court kapellmeister of the Royal Swedish Court Chapel (Kungliga Hovkapellet). His descendants assumed the office of court kapellmeister until the first half of the 18th century. Among the few surviving works by Andreas Düben are several organ compositions in which he is clearly recognizable as a pupil of Sweelinck. Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1561-1621) wrote 24 variations on Protestant chorales, which he published not for the Reformed congregations of Amsterdam, but for his German pupils. In part Sweelinck composed in collaboration with them, as the present variations on "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" show: only the first four are by Sweelinck himself, the following by his pupils Andreas Düben, Peter Hasse, Samuel and Gottfried Scheidt and others. Here we hear the 5 parts attributed to Andreas Düben or partly to his brother Martin Düben (1598ca-1650). ___________________________

PS: Für ein folgendes Volume in dieser Serie würde ich gerne "Angelus ad pastores ait" von Heinrich Scheidemann wünschen, der übrigens ein Freund von Jakob Praetorius und ebenfalls Sweelinck-Schüler war. Am besten gespielt auf einem Hauptwerk-Sample der Scherrer-Orgel in Tangermünde, falls ein solches schon erhältlich wäre.

Danke für diese interessante Zusammenstellung. Es ist den Werken von Jakob Praetorius gut anzuhören, dass er ein Schüler von Sweelinck war. Man kann in diesen oft eine ähnlich schwebende Leichtigkeit und einen geradezu magnetisch wirkenden musikalischen "Flow-Zustand" erleben, wie in den meditativ angelegten grossen Werken seines Lehrmeisters. Hier insbesondere in den sieben "Vater unser im Himmelreich" Variationen gut zu hören.

Remarks to CD Volume 84 / THE NORTH GERMAN ORGAN MUSIC AROUND 1600 - Volume 1 _________________________ The North German Organ School A far-reaching influence on the development of the Northern European organ took place as early as the second half of the 16th century through innovations in instrument building. The pioneering spirit of the organ-building family Scherer (1546-1613 in total), of Gottfried Fritzsche (1578-1638) and later of Arp Schnitger (1648-1719), who worked in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg, made it possible for organists to make music with a completely new type of organ from this time on. Through creative ideas and their practical implementation in organ building, it had become technically possible to produce 2- to 4-manual instruments with full pedalboard, some of which even had over 50 stops. In their parts there were different principal choirs to choose from, also other sound variations were invented by the organ builders: different new flute and reed voices now offered the player as wide a sound palette as possible. The newly emerged versatile richness of sound enabled composers to write magnificent, fantastic and intoxicating music for the queen of instruments. The old blockwork type of organ building had had its day and made way for a fully polyphonic instrument in which all sections from the Oberwerk to the Pedal could be played independently with completely different sounding pipe stops. Today we call this style the "North German Organ School". It originated before 1600 and its flowering lasted until the middle of the 18th century. Numerous musicians wrote their works for the new instruments during this time. The organists were inspired by the great richness of color of the magnificent organs built by true masters of their craft. This publication features a selection of compositions from the early era of the North German Organ School. _________________________ Cajus Schmiedtlein (c. 1555-1611) There are different forms of his name - like Schmiedeke and Schmittlein. He is said to have been born in the northern German district of Dithmarschen. Nothing is known about his education. For an indefinite time Cajus worked as a church musician in Husum (Schleswig-Holstein), until in 1578 he got a job as an organist in the St.Olaf church in Helsingør (Denmark). However, only a year later, after a dispute over his own initiative to create a pedal division and thus modify the organ of St.Olaf Church, he had to resign from this position without the approval of the church authorities. It is assumed that Cajus was thereafter present in Hamburg. In 1585 he then became organist at St. Mary's Church in Gdansk (now Poland), where he worked with brief interruptions until the end of his life. His successor at the Marienkirche was Paul Siefert (1586-1666). Schmiedtlein, who was an important figure in the musical and cultural life of the city of Gdansk, compiled 42 pieces in the "Tabulatura gdańska" (Gdansk Tablature), dated from 1571, and probably composed most of them himself. The compositions attributed to him in it include 17 fantasies, a prelude and 24 keyboard arrangements of various songs. _________________________ Melchior Woltmann (?-1642) Melchior Woltmann is identified as a composer only by the one present composition "Von Gott will nicht lassen auff 2. Clavier". It represents one of the oldest known chorale fantasias of the North German Organ School and has surprisingly rarely been performed. The work has been handed down in the tablature "Mus. ant. pract. KN 209" of the Lüneburg Council Library, written by Heinrich Baltzer Wedemann (1646-1718)). The manuscript includes 132 leaves in portrait format: 77 compositions, mainly chorale arrangements and motets intavolations, as well as some free works of the 17th century. Melchior Woltmann held the position of court organist in Celle since 1637 as successor to Delphin Strungk. At his death in 1642, he was considered "the old Melchior" - thus he may have belonged to the generation of Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654) or may have been even older. His origin, his education and his earlier fields of activity are uncertain, so that it must also remain unknown to us where and when the composition "Von Gott will nicht lassen auff 2. Clavier" was written. _________________________ Peter Hasse the Elder (c. 1575-1640) was also called "Petrus" Hasse. Little is known about his early years. He may have been a student of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1561-1621) in Amsterdam, the "German organist maker." Peter was one of the large number of musicians who had migrated to Lübeck (Germany in southeastern Schleswig-Holstein) to seek employment in the former metropolis of the Hanseatic League, whose fame was still attractive. That was before the year 1616. We do not know exactly where the young man came from from his life data. But by a lucky coincidence, we were able to determine that he came from Franconia (Germany), because his eldest son is always given the designation "from Franconia" in the old Lübeck genealogical registers. Peter, trusting in his hitherto matured musical ability, had found his way to Lübeck before Í616, as already mentioned. Not alone but with his wife and his son Johannes, born around 1615. In the city, shortly after, he was appointed organist at the great Council Church of St. Mary, as the successor of Hermann Ebel (†1616). From this it can be deduced that Petrus Hasse must have been a recognized musician for Lübeck. In the Library of the Friends of Music in Vienna, there is a 7-part mass in A minor, and an 8-part motet, which may have been performed by Petrus himself in 1633, 1634 and 1638 in the Marienkirche in Lübeck. A widower twice over, Hasse married a third time in 1631 to give his children a mother again and was made a citizen of the Hanseatic city in the same year. Together with his successors Franz Tunder (1614-1667) and Dieterich Buxtehude (ca1637-1707), Peter Hasse was responsible for making Lübeck one of the musical centers of northern Germany. He left behind five sons and one daughter. _________________________ Jacob Praetorius the Younger (1586-1651) JJacob Praetorius the Younger (his real name was Jacob Schultz) was a respected member of the well-known Hamburg organ family Praetorius. Young Jacob received his first lessons from his father Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629), who was the organist at St. Jacobi Church in that city. Later, for the purpose of his further education, he went to Amsterdam for 2 years as a musician to study with the "German organist-maker" Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1561-1621), of whom he seems to have been one of his first pupils. During this time, Jacob gained Sweelinck's favor to such an extent that Sweelinck even composed and sent him a motet "Canticum nuptiale" for his wedding to Margarethe a Campis in 1608. By then Jacob was already back in Hamburg and employed as organist at St. Petri in Hamburg. Later, he was appointed cathedral vicar at this church, and from 1648, dean. Jacob Praetorius retained this professional position until the end of his life. Jacob's organ works include praeambulae (preludes), chorale variations, organ chorales, and several Magnificat settings. These compositions of his have had a lasting influence on the organ music of the North German Organ School. However, not only his music but also his amiable nature brought him great praise and high recognition among his fellow citizens in Hamburg. Jacob Praetorius had three sons and three daughters, his son Hieronymus also became a musician.