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.
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"?
Vielen Dank für die positive Kritik zur Musik! Bei der Schuke-Orgel in der Predigerkirche hat das Orgelinnenleben mit dieser speziell neo-barocken Konzeption m. W. seit dem Jahr 1977 keine Veränderungen erfahren. Im Dom von Erfurt steht ebenfalls eine Schuke-Orgel von 1992 mit einem barock ausgerichteten Klangkern die jedoch im Vergleich zum Instrument in der Predigerkirche anders klingt.
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.
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"?
Vielen Dank für die positive Kritik zur Musik! Bei der Schuke-Orgel in der Predigerkirche hat das Orgelinnenleben mit dieser speziell neo-barocken Konzeption m. W. seit dem Jahr 1977 keine Veränderungen erfahren. Im Dom von Erfurt steht ebenfalls eine Schuke-Orgel von 1992 mit einem barock ausgerichteten Klangkern die jedoch im Vergleich zum Instrument in der Predigerkirche anders klingt.