Praetorius: Christmas Music - Dances from ¨Terpsichore¨ / Schein: Suites from ¨Banchetto Musicale¨
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 มิ.ย. 2024
- MICHAEL PRAETORIUS (1571-1621)
00:00 Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
04:33 Ein Kind geborn zu Bethlehem
07:07 Hosianna dem Sohne Davids (anonymous)
08:05 Psallite unigenito Christo (anonymous)
09:43 Vom Himmel hoch
Dances from ¨Terpsichore¨
13:10 Ballet des sorciers
14:19 Bransle double
15:39 Gaillarde
17:19 Sarabande
18:32 Ballet des feus
19:39 Pavane de Spaigne
20:53 La Rosette
21:50 Bransle gentil
23:14 Volte
24:14 Courante
JOHANN HERMANN SCHEIN (1586-1630)
2 Suites from ¨Banchetto Musicale¨
Suite No. 1 in G major
26:00 Pavane
27:41 Gagliarde
29:18 Courante
30:40 Allemande - Tripla
Suite No. 2 in D minor
32:30 Pavane
34:10 Gagliarde
36:16 Courante
37:08 Allemande - Tripla
Niedersächsischer Singkreis - Willi Träder, conductor
Ferdinand Conrad Instrumental Ensemble
Sources and Modern Editions:
- Praetorius, Christmas Music: ¨Musae Sioniae... fünffter Theil¨, Wolfenbüttel, 1607; mod. ed. by Friedrich Blume & Hans Költzsch (Michael Praetorius: Musikalische Werke V), Wolfenbüttel & Berlin, 1937 - ¨Musae Sioniae... sechster Theil¨, Wolfenbüttel, 1609; mod. ed. by Fritz Reusch (Michael Praetorius: Musikalische Werke VI), Wolfenbüttel & Berlin, 1928 - ¨Musae Sioniae... neundter Theil¨, Wolfenbüttel, 1610; mod. ed. by Friedrich Blume (Michael Praetorius: Musikalische Werke IX), Wolfenbüttel & Berlin, 1929
- Praetorius, Dances: ¨Terpsichore... frantzosische Däntze und Lieder...¨, Wolfenbüttel, 1612; mod. ed. by Günther Oberst (Michael Praetorius: Musikalische Werke XV), Wolfenbüttel & Berlin, 1929
- Schein, Suites: ¨Banchetto Musicale... Padouanen, Gagliarden, Couranten und Allemanden¨, Leipzig, 1617; mod. ed. by Fritz Jöde (Johann Hermann Schein: Fünf Suiten... aus dem ¨Banchetto musicale¨), Wolfenbüttel & Berlin, 1925
Art: Still life with turkey (1627), by Pieter Claesz (c.1597-1660)
The Christmas season, extending from Advent to Epiphany, is the musical highpoint of the Lutheran liturgical year, a time when opulent ensembles and frequently elaborate compositions fill the church with a truly joyful noise. At the center of this splendor stands the chorale, the cornerstone of all German Protestant church music; Christmas hymns form a large and appealing part of the chorale repertoire.
No composer ever devoted himself more to this body of music than Michael Praetorius. In the two vast collections that constitute the bulk of his musical output, the nine-volume ¨Musae Sioniae¨ (1605-1610) and the ¨Polyhymniae ecclesiasticae¨ (planned in fifteen volumes, of which only three were completed), he set an imposing range of Lutheran hymns in styles extending from simple vocal duets to mighty polychoral compositions employing extensive vocal and instrumental forces.
Praetorius inherited the chorale tradition at its source. His father, the pastor Michael Schulteis - the composer Latinized his name (Schulteis - village mayor, praetorius - civic leader), following the example of another branch of the family - had been a colleague of Johann Walter, Luther’s composer laureate, while teaching as a young man at the Latin school in Torgau. Praetorius, born in Creuzburg most likely in 1571, received his early education at the same school, where he sang in the very choir that Walter had once led, which a pupil of his now conducted.
After studying theology at the University of Frankfurt an der Oder, Praetorius settled in Wolfenbüttel early in the last decade of the century. In 1595, Duke Heinrich Julius of Braunschweig appointed him organist to the ducal court at Wolfenbüttel; a year later, Praetorius also became organist in nearby Grüningen. He rose to the position of Kapellmeister in 1606, without, however, abandoning his former duties at the organ.
The death of the music-loving Duke late in 1613 brought Praetorius’ activities at the court to a temporary halt. At the invitation of Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony, he took a leave of absence and went to Dresden, where he composed for the sumptuous Kapelle, which included in its ranks no less a figure than Heinrich Schütz. Praetorius left Dresden early in 1616 but traveled restlessly, not making his final return to Wolfenbüttel until 1620. During his absence, the musical situation at the court had deteriorated badly. Praetorius himself had been ill for some time, and he was accordingly relieved of his duties. He died a year later.
Praetorius played a decisive role in charting the course of German music in the early seventeenth century. With his monumental three-volume treatise, the ¨Syntagma musicum¨ (1615, 1618, and 1619), he became virtually the teacher of a nation, learnedly discussing the history of music, presenting comprehensive information about the musical instruments of his day, and offering the first detailed description in German of the revolutionary Italian concertato style and its mode of performance. His music, meanwhile, showed his compatriots countless ways combining the newly imported innovations with the tradition of the chorale.
Of the whole body of chorales, Praetorius seems to have had a special fondness for the Christmas hymns, which he graced with some of his most attractive music. The present selection of Christmas pieces from ¨Musae Sioniae¨ includes settings of three of the most important of these songs: ¨Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland¨ (Luther’s German version of the medieval Latin hymn ¨Veni, redemptor gentium¨), ¨Ein Kind geborn zu Bethlehem¨ (an anonymous translation of the Latin ¨Puer natus in Bethlehem¨), and Luther’s ¨Vom Himmel hoch¨. The verses of the chorales are given in different settings, varying in style and in number of voices. Following Praetorius’ own suggestions in Part III of the ¨Syntagma musicum¨, they have been scored for a mixed ensemble of voices and instruments - pommers, krummhorn, dulcian, gambas, and recorders - lending a particular sonic appeal to the music. These little chorale compositions demonstrate Praetorius’ genial gifts as a creator of fresh and attractive settings of the melodies that he so obviously loved.
Praetorius included a few short pieces by other composers in the ¨Musae Sioniae¨, two of which appear on this record: the lovely ¨Hosianna sei dem Sohne Davids¨ and the bright ¨Psallite unigenito Christo¨. Praetorius himself designated them as anonymous, and subsequent musicologists have still not discovered their authors.
¨Terpsichore¨ (1612) stands alone as Praetorius’ sole secular work. He had not planned it so; ¨Terpsichore¨ was designed as the fifth part of yet another of his magnificent encyclopedic projects, the ¨Musae Aoniae¨, intended as a secular counterpart to the ¨Musae Sioniae¨.
¨Terpsichore¨ consists of four- and five-part settings of French dance melodies that Praetorius learned from Antoine Emeraud, one of two French dancing masters at the Wolfenbüttel court. The other, Pierre Francisque Caroubel, worked with Praetorius on the collection, contributing no less than 78 settings, most of which (although not quite all) Praetorius carefully identified. Like most instrumental music of its day, ¨Terpsichore¨ does not indicate the instruments for which it was intended, leaving the scoring to the players’ choice. The performances on this record use an ensemble of recorders supported by percussion, which, although not notated in the original music, has been added according to the practice of the time.
These dances, arranged with Praetorius’ usual fine hand, belong with the very best of their type. The music alternately leaps in sprightly figures or reposes elegantly and expressively, presenting an enchanting miniature picture of a gracious court at its leisure.
While Praetorius belonged to the generation that helped effect the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque era in Germany, Johann Hermann Schein stands as one of the very greatest of the slightly younger German composers who brought the new style to its first peak of greatness on their native soil.
Schein was born in the Saxon village of Grünhain in 1586, like Praetorius the son of a pastor. He became a choirboy in Dresden in 1599 and later studied at the famous school in Pforta and at the University of Leipzig, which he entered as a law student in 1607. His first publication appeared in 1609, starting an impressive series of secular and sacred works, which followed one another in alternation. In 1615, Schein was appointed Kapellmeister in Weimar; a year later, he received the coveted post of Thomaskantor in Leipzig (he thus preceded Johann Sebastian Bach in both places).Schein died young, in 1630; his close friend Schütz wrote a beautiful motet for his funeral.
In contrast to ¨Terpsichore¨, which represents music for actual dancing, the suites that make up Schein’s ¨Banchetto musicale¨ (1617) show the stylization, formal expansion, and heightened compositional sophistication that transformed simple dances into richly expressive pieces of abstract music. The suite form derived from the sixteenth-century custom of pairing slow and quick dances of common thematic material (Vor- and Nachtanz). An extension of this unifying concept to an entire series of dances, and the crystallization of their pattern of succession made the suite in effect a variation cycle. Along with this formal development came an expansion of the dimensions of the dances themselves, a widening of their harmonic vocabulary, and an increase in contrapuntal refinement and elaboration.
The intense gravity of this music - performed here by an ensemble of strings, recorders, dulcian, harpsichord, and percussion - is native to an entirely different realm than that of Praetorius’ charming and unpretentious social diversions. Schein’s beautiful suites belong to that same world of spiritualized dance music that later produced such works as Froberger’s and Bach’s suites, and the waltzes, mazurkas, and polonaises of Chopin.
JOSHUA RIFKIN
Nonesuch (H-71128) 1966
NUN KOMM, DER HEIDEN HEILAND
Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,
der Jungfrauen Kind erkannt,
dass sich wunder alle Welt,
Gott solch Geburt ihm bestellt.
Er ging aus des Kammer sein,
dem köng´lichen Saal so rein,
Gott von Art und Mensch ein Held,
sein´n Weg er zu laufen eilt.
Sein Lauf kam vom Vater her
und kehrt wider zum Vater,
fuhr hinunter zu der Höll
und wieder zu Gottes stuhl.
Dein Krippen glänzt hell und klar,
die Nacht gibt ein neu Licht dar.
Dunkel muss nicht kommen drein,
der Glaub bleibt immer im Schein.
Lob sei Gott dem Vater g´tan,
lob sei Gott seim eingen Sohn,
lob sei Gott dem heilgen Geist,
immer und in Ewigkeit.
Come, Saviour of the heathen,
known to be the virgin’s child,
of whom the entire world stands in awe;
God ordained such a birth for him.
He went forth from his chamber,
the royal hall so pure,
by birth both God and man, a hero;
he hastens to run his course.
His path came from the Father
and returns to the Father,
leads down to hell
and back again to God’s seat of judgment.
Thy crib beams bright and clear,
while the night shines with a new light.
Darkness must not come to it;
faith remains ever in brightness.
Praise be to God the Father,
praise be to God his only Son,
praise be to God the Holy Ghost,
ever and in eternity.
EIN KIND GEBORN ZU BETHLEHEM
Ein Kind geborn zu Bethlehem,
des freuet sich Jerusalem,
Alleluja.
Hie leit es in dem Krippelein,
ohn Ende ist die Herrschaft sein,
Alleluja.
Das Öchslein und das Eselein
erkannten Gott den Herren sein,
Alleluja.
Die Kön´g aus Saba kamen dar,
Gold, Weihrauch, Myrrhen brachten sie dar,
Alleluja.
Sein Mutter ist die reine Magd
die ohn ein Mann geboren hat,
Alleluja.
Für solche gnadenreiche Zeit
sei Gott gelobt in Ewigkeit,
Alleluja.
A child born in Bethlehem,
in whom Jerusalem rejoices,
Alleluia.
It lies here in its cradle;
reign is without end,
Alleluia.
The ox and the ass
acknowledged God their Lord,
Alleluia.
The kings from Sheba came,
bringing gold, incense, and myrrh,
Alleluia.
His mother is the pure maid
who bore a child without a husband,
Alleluia.
For a time so full of grace,
may God be praised in eternity,
Alleluia.
HOSIANNA DEM SOHNE DAVIDS
Hosianna dem Sohne Davids.
Gelobet sei der da kommt
im Namen des Herren,
Hosianna in der Höhe.
Hosanna to the son of David.
Praised be the man who comes
in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest.
PSALLITE UNIGENITO CHRISTO
Psallite unigenito Christo, Dei filio,
psallite redemptori Domino, puerulo,
iacenti in praesepio.
Ein kleines Kindelein liegt in dem Krippelein,
alle lieben Engelein dienen dem Kindelein
und singen ihm fein:
Psallite unigenito Christo, Dei filio,
psallite redemptori Domino, puerulo,
iacenti in praesepio.
Strike the harp to the only begotten Christ, God´s son,
strike the harp to the Lord our Saviour, the infant child,
lying in the manger.
A little child lies in his crib;
the beloved angels all minister to the child
and sing sweetly to him:
Strike the harp to the only begotten Christ, God´s son,
strike the harp to the Lord our Saviour, the infant child,
lying in the manger.
VON HIMMEL HOCH
Von Himmel hoch da komm ich her,
ich bring euch gute neue Mär,
der guten Mär bring ich so viel,
davon ich singn und sagen will.
Euch ist ein Kindlein heut geborn,
von einer Jungfrau auserkorn,
ein Kindlein so zart und fein,
das soll eur Freud und Wonne sein.
Es ist der Herr Christ, unser Gott,
der will euch führn aus aller Not,
er will eur Heiland selber sein,
von allen Sünden machen rein.
Der lasst uns alle fröhlich sein,
und mit den Hirten geht hinein,
zu sehn, was Gott uns hat beschert,
mit seinem lieben Sohn verehrt.
Lob, Ehr sei Gott im höchsten Thron,
der uns schenkt seinen eingen Sohn,
des freuen sich der Engel Schar,
und singen uns solch neues Jahr.
From heaven on high I come to you;
I bring you glad new tidings.
So many glad tidings do I bring,
of which I will sing and speak.
To you a child is born today,
of a chosen virgin
a child so tender and fine
who shall be your joy and rapture.
It is the Lord Christ, our God,
who shall lead you from all your woe;
he shall be your Saviour
and cleanse you from all your sins.
Then let us be joyous
and go with the shepherds
to see what God has bestowed upon us,
whom we revere with his beloved son.
Praise and glory be to God high on his throne,
who gives us his only son,
in whom the angelic host rejoices,
singing us the new year.
Translations by Joshua Rifkin
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I believe this wonderful music is from one, perhap two, Nonesuch vinyl LP albums, unfortunately, long lost :-(
I believe this wonderful music is from one (perhaps two) Nonesuch vinyl LP(s), unfortunately long lost :-(