Program Notes

by Margaret Panofsky

More than in any other period, seventeenth-century German composers assimilated the musical styles of other countries—especially those of Italy, the Netherlands and France—adapting and shaping them into a rich and varied national repertory. Five composers who were eminent during that era are included on this program: Samuel Scheidt, Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Hermann Schein, as well as Andreas Hammerschmidt and Christoph Bernhard, whose music, regrettably, is not well known today. The remaining two composers, Johannes Schenck and Johann Michael Nicolai, primarily wrote beautifully crafted, idiomatic instrumental compositions.

For this program, most of the vocal music—both in Latin and German—employs psalms for the texts; the settings vary in length from a few lines to the complete psalm with added material (the doxology, “Gloria Patri et Filio.... Amen”). The two exceptions are the Magnificat and Vater unser im Himmelreich, a paraphrase of The Lord’s Prayer, both by Schein. In all of the music, you will notice that the composers have adhered meticulously to the structure of the lines and verses, manipulating the texture to fit them while dramatizing significant words. You will also notice that the singers are using germanized Latin, since seventeenth-century Latin pronunciation differed substantially from the standardized italianate Latin of today. Although the Latin pronunciation varied from one region to another depending upon the German dialect of the area—in general, the most notable difference to modern listeners is the pronunciation of consonants and consonant combinations. To give an example, “sp” would be pronounced as if it were written “shp.” The word “spiritui” (from the doxology, “Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto”) would sound like “shpiritui.”

Dietrich Buxtehude, born in Denmark, held one of the most important musical positions in north Germany for forty years, as organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck. The vocal works that begin and end this program move vigorously, propelled by the driving continuo that occasionally takes on a solo role. Both pieces contain virtuosic melismas for the three solo voices, with two voices often in marked contrast to the third part. (In fact, when all three voices actually sing the same rhythm and text, a significant high point has been reached in the composition.) The short and cheerful In te Domine speravi has only two contrasting sections that set the first two lines of Psalm 71. Cantate Domino is comprised of seven sections that function almost independently. This effect is accomplished through dramatic changes in tempo and meter in conjunction with choral and solo verses in alternation. In the first section, the exuberant melismas on “cantate” from the famous Psalm 96 outshine almost any other composers’ treatment of that word.

The three instrumental suites, one by Johann Michael Nicolai and two by Johannes Schenck, are violists’ delights, showing off the sonorous overtones of multiple bass violas da gamba. A violone player in the Stuttgart court orchestra, Nicolai favored compositions for low instruments; his Sonata in A Minor is aptly written for three bass viols. The lively, italianate fast movements are heralded by short adagios, with the piece culminating in an affecting chaconne. For this trio, the viols are generally confined to their designated alto, tenor and bass ranges—a vivid contrast to the Schenck duets from later in the program, in which the viols’ lines cross repeatedly, assuming both solo and accompaniment roles. Although Christoph Bernhard’s music was praised during his lifetime, today he is primarily remembered for his musical treatises; the most important is Tractatus compositionis augmentatus, which divides seventeenth-century music into three distinct styles. After his studies with Heinrich Schütz and with Giacomo Carissimi in Rome, he obtained prominent positions, first in Hamburg, and later in Dresden. Although both of the concert’s pieces are psalm settings, one would hardly recognize that they are by the same composer. Of course, the subjects differ: Ach Herr, strafe mich nicht in deinem Zorn is supplicatory, while Jubilate Deo omnis terra expresses joyful gratitude. It is the language that truly distinguishes them. Bernhard’s German text settings are always exceptionally precise, both in the delineation of the structure, and in the rhetorical treatment of individual words—for example, take note of “Ich schwemme” (I swim) and “plötzlich” (suddenly). In contrast, the more fluent and italianate Jubilate Deo is reminiscent of Carissimi, with a sprightly ritornello to separate each line of the exquisitely ornamented text.

An acclaimed viola da gamba virtuoso, the Dutch-born Johannes Schenck held a post as chamber musician to the Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm I at Düsseldorf. Both of the program’s pieces are from the collection of twelve suites entitled Le nymphe di Rheno. Sonata IX is decidedly French in style, and is comprised of movements from the typical dance suite; the limpid melodic lines are uniquely suited to the addition of French ornaments. Sonata XII is frenetic by comparison; in a few moments, the miniature first movement displays four abrupt changes of tempo. The concluding Presto (which is seamlessly joined to the previous Allegro) is somewhat odd; it provides a fitting conclusion to the nymphe di Rheno set, since it resembles no other movement in the entire collection.

Johann Hermann Schein spent much of his short, but illustrious musical life as the Kantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. This Magnificat comes from his second Opella Nova of 1626. (Two of the program's pieces are from the first Opella Nova, which was published in 1618; see last paragraph.) The second Opella Nova favors biblical texts over the Lutheran chorales of the first volume, set in a variety of ways with solo-tutti contrasts predominating. The Magnificat, or Canticle of the Blessed Virgin, possesses a long musical history. It is traditionally performed at the Office of Vespers; its ten lines come from Luke 1.46-55, closing with the two additional lines of the doxology. Schein wrote this Magnificat “in alternatim” without including the chant, which we have taken from the Liber Usualis; it is Tone 6 in F. The majority of Magnificats have the even-numbered verses set polyphonically. In this case, Schein composed the odd-numbered lines; thus the piece, including the “Amen,” ends with the chant. In this remarkable work, he accomplishes a gentle intimacy in some sections and grandeur (with a minimum of performers) in others.

Samuel Scheidt studied in Amsterdam with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, the influential composer and organist, and thereafter remained in Halle, the city of his birth. The four-part Fantasia super “Io son ferito lasso” is actually an organ work from his Tabulatura Nova, Vol. I of 1624, transcribed for viol consort. It is one of the few pieces in the volume that is based on a secular tune; the first of the four subjects comes from Giovanni Palestrina’s famous five-part madrigal of 1561, Io son ferito ahi lasso (Alas, I am wounded)—a popular theme that many composers used as a cantus firmus. The Scheidt fantasia is a contrapuntal marvel. The first theme (Palestrina’s) makes its second appearance in retrograde. The third theme is a descending chromatic line, and the fourth, its retrograde. In the structural center of the composition, the four themes (in augmentation) occur one after the other in the treble line; they then migrate downward through the alto, tenor and bass voices, while the surrounding parts supply an array of diminutions. To the contemporary listener familiar with Palestrina’s tune, the many permutations must have been enthralling.

The set of three German sacred songs scored for two sopranos and continuo—one by Andreas Hammerschmidt and two by Schein—seem less formal than the Latin works on the program. Hammerschmidt, who has slipped into relative obscurity today, was, for thirty-six years, the much-admired and productive composer of sacred vocal music at St. Johannis in Zittau. In “Herr Jesu Christ,” he has set two lines from Psalm 73 in almost perfect imitation between the two vocal parts, establishing a certain playfulness as the succinct syllables bounce back and forth. The bass line seldom participates thematically, but contributes a slow-moving harmonic support—in contrast to its agility in the other vocal pieces. Schein’s songs are from the Opella Nova of 1618, his first collection of sacred concertos. They are based on Lutheran chorales, which you will hear as introductions. In both “Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott” and “Vater unser im Himmelreich,” fragments of the chorales (often profusely decorated) are interchanged by the two sopranos over an instrumental bass comprised of two separate lines—one realized, and the other, serving as a third, imitative voice. These pieces, as much as any of the others on the program, exhibit the exhilaration and inventiveness of seventeenth-century German sacred repertory.