Nicolaus Bruhns: Das Orgelwerk
Melchior Schildt: Orgelwerke
Joseph Kelemen, Arp-Schnitger-Orgel, Norden
Joseph Kelemen is now presenting the third album in
his series of recordings on historic organs focusing on
the North German school of organ-playing. For his
recordings, Kelemen invariably chooses instruments
which are linked as closely as possible with the respective
composer.
Nicolaus Bruhns was one of the most influential
representatives of an increasingly emancipated, emotional,
rhetorical style, the stylus phantasticus. Bruhns
was born in 1665 near Husum, and his teachers included
Dietrich Buxtehude. J.S. Bach was a particular
admirer of Bruhns. The complete works for organ
recorded here are rounded off by organ works by
Melchior Schildt, who was approximately one generation
older than Bruhns. His teachers included Jan
Pieterszoon Sweelinck in Amsterdam. Until his death
in 1667, he was the organist of the market church in
Hanover.
The Stylus phantasticus
[The Stylus phantasticus] is the freest and least
dependent type of composition, and is neither
limited by words nor by a harmonic subject…1
For this style is the freest and most independent
art of composition, singing and performing that
one can imagine… because one is bound neither
to words nor melody, although to harmony, only
so that the singer or performer can demonstrate
his ability… without adherence to the tempo or
key… here quickly, there hesitatingly. These are
the essential features of the fantastic style… in
which tempo calls it a day.” 2
Some of the earliest heights of organ music
were reached in 17th century Northern
Germany. As in other important centers for
organ music (Italy, France and Spain), organ
builders and performers mutually influenced
each other. With their both technically and
artistically innovative instruments, organbuilding
dynasties such as the Scherer and
Fritzsche families lastingly influenced the
musical life of the region. Arp Schnitger
(1648–1719) was one of the most highly profiled
organ builders in Northern Germany.
Some 150 instruments came from his workshop
in Hamburg, among them the largest
of the baroque era.
The increasingly individual expression of
sensibilities, or “affects”, which determined
the Stylus phantasticus3, was highly significant
for the development of 17th century music.
This style featured great freedom for the performer,
excessive rhetorical gestures as well
as abrupt changes in musical thoughts. The
above-mentioned quote by Kircher refers to
the early development of the Stylus phantasticus
and primarily emphasizes the emancipation
of instrumental music from the primacy
of vocal music. The later definition by Mattheson
implies interpretive consequences.
Nicolaus Bruhns (1665–97), one of the
most important representatives of this style,
can be temporally localized between the two
quotes. He was born in 1665 in Schwabstedt
(near Husum, Germany). In 1681 he went to
Lübeck and studied violin and viola da gamba
with his uncle Peter Bruhns as well as organ
and composition with Dietrich Buxtehude
(1637–1707). After a longer stay in Copenhagen,
he was appointed organist in the Husum
city church in 1689. He died here on March
29, 1697 at age 31; his successor in Husum was
his brother Georg Bruhns. Johann Sebastian
Bach (1685–1750) greatly admired Bruhns,
and thanks to Bach, three of Bruhn’s works
have come down to us. “[Bach] used Bruhns,
Reinken and Buxtehude’s works as models for
his own organ works.” 4 Like Bach, Bruhns was
a violinist, a fact that occasionally makes itself
apparent in his (organ) works.
Bruhns’ complete organ works are supplemented
in this recording by a selection of pieces
by Melchior Schildt (ca. 1592–1667). Schildt,
born in Hanover, was approximately one generation
older than Bruhns. Today, however,
he is unjustly neglected by organists. As did
many of his Northern German colleagues –
e.g. Samuel Scheidt (1587–1654) and Heinrich
Scheidemann (ca. 1596–1663) – Schildt studied
with the highly popular teacher Jan Pieterszoon
Sweelinck (1562–1621) in Amsterdam between
1609 and 1612. In 1623, Schildt was appointed
organist in the Beatae Mariae Virginis church
in Wolfenbüttel, where he inaugurated the new
Gottfried Fritzsche organ with 40 registers in
1624. In 1626, the Danish king asked him to
come to Copenhagen to be the royal organist
and teacher to the princes. Schildt remained
in the service of King Christian IV for three
years. After the death of his father Antonius,
he took over his father’s position as organist in
Hanover’s Marktkirche until his own death in
1667.
The choice of organ
Bruhns’ large three-manual instrument5 in
the Marienkirche that dominates Husum’s
skyline,6 built by Gottfried Fritzsche in
1629–32, no longer exists. Despite his outstanding
organ, Bruhns began considering a
new post shortly after assuming his office in
Husum. This is corroborated by records of
negotiations with the city of Kiel.7 The diversity
of musical expression in Bruhns’ organ
music demands an instrument with extensive
colors. For this recording, the largest baroque
instrument in East Frisia was used: the Arp
Schnitger organ8 in Norden’s Ludgerikirche,
which was built in 1686–92, the same time as
Bruhns composed his works. Visitors to the
Ludgerikirche immediately notice the unusual
location9 of the instrument. Apparently,
Schnitger wanted to integrate the spatial effect
of the church into the organ construc
tion. In the fine acoustics of the church, the
tonal impression changes with every step.
Even when the listener stands in one place
for a time, the distance to the individual divisions
of the organ is very different. This
results in the illusion that the sound comes
from different sources. The Brustwerk can
be closed by means of little wooden doors,
which subdues the sound to a certain extent.
The works and their registrations
Bruhns and Schildt have one thing in common:
very few of their organ works have come
down to us. Those we have, however, are of
very high quality. In that time, organists were
primarily improvisers. Only a fraction of their
works were written down – and then, mostly
for didactic reasons. All total, only around a
half a dozen organ works by each composer
as well as a dozen vocal works by Bruhns and
one single vocal work by Schildt are extant
today. Bruhns left behind no secular song variations,
while Schildt is represented in this
genre by two works: Gleichwie das Feuer (02)
and Paduane Lachrymae (13).
The registration concept of this program
foresees an important role for the 8’ principal
register in the manual (Norden has two:
in the Werck and in the Rückpositiv). Frequently,
a single 8’ principal register serves as
the sole accompaniment in the left hand; a
rich tone color is achieved by the constantly
varying registrations in the right hand. Variatio
2 of Schildt’s Gleichwie das Feuer (02) uses
both principals in a soloistic manner, one after
another.
In Schildt’s works, stops from the age of
the organ’s predecessor (1618) can occasionally
be heard, i.e. ones that existed when Schildt
was composing. These include the Gedact 8’
of the Rückpositiv in the beginning of the
Paduane Lachrymae (13) or the Quintadena
16’ and Rohrflöte 8’ of the Werck in the introduction
of Allein Gott in der Hohe sey Ehr
(10).
Bruhns’ Praeludium in G Major (01) follows
the structure of the typical Northern
German toccata, i.e. various free sections
enclose a number of imitative ones. In this
case we have three parts and two fugues. These
have one basic subject; the second fugue,
which has five voices, varies the subject of
the first fugue (a six-voice fugue with double
pedal) only in regard to meter. The opening
section of the prelude alternately introduces
the four plena of the four manuals.
The folk melody of Schildt’s Gleichwie
das Feuer (02) was internationally known at
the time, and is probably English in origin.
Its arrangement is one of only two preserved
variations on secular songs by Northern German
masters of the Sweelinck school.
The authorship of the Praeludium in G
Minor (03) is still not entirely clear. After a
Northern German prelude with an expansive
pedal solo followed by a short, recitative-like
transition, we come to the fugue, whose subject
includes the repeated tones typical for
that period.
The Primus Versus (04) of Schildt’s five-part
Magnificat is a plenum movement. We hear
it on this recording in a version with double
pedal (stopped with 16’, 8’ and 4’ reeds). This
is possible because of the special acoustics of
the Ludgerikirche with its pedal tower jutting
into the church nave. In a performance with
double pedal, both the chorale melody in the
the tenor voice as well as the supporting bass
can be clearly heard, while the manual plenum
ensures the festive character of the verse. The
Secundus Versus (05) is a chorale fantasia that
ranges far afield. Compositionally, it has four
clear sections; its structure and artistic finesse
show an affinity to Heinrich Scheidemann’s
chorale and magnificat fantasias. After the
quickly paced introduction, a joyous echo section
follows in measure 36. This is superseded
in measure 58 by a second, echo-like passage
stopped with 8’ Flöten. In the fourth section
(starting at measure 85), we hear a lengthy solo
in the right hand above the recurring chorale
melody in the pedal. This solo also uses – in
addition to a reed mixture in the Oberpositiv
– the Sesquialtera of the Rückpositiv from the
first half of the 17th century, one of the most
beautiful registers from this early time. The
Tertius Versus (06), composed as a ricercar,
uses extensive chromaticism that almost gives
it the air of an essay on mean-tone temperament.
The attraction of this expressive movement
is the varying sizes of minor seconds in
the chromatic progressions. Once – with the
D-sharp” in measure 70 – Schildt leaves the
tonal area of the meantone temperament. The
cheerful solo in the Quartus Versus (07) uses
a registration recommended by Mattheson10
(Gedackt 8’ and Waldflöte 2’). Here, this registration
is heard above the chorale melody
(Trompete 8’) in the pedal. In the treble voice
of the Quintus Versus, Schildt cites the entire
chorale one last time (08), performed here on
the Werck plenum, before the piece comes to
a festive close with the entrance of the Cimbelstern.
When one considers that Schildt’s
Magnificat does not exceed the tone a”, one
must admit that this work is an amazing compositional
achievement.
The recently discovered short Adagio in D
(09), found in the Husumer Orgelbuch11 and
attributed to Bruhns, is certainly a fragment
of an unknown composition by Bruhns.
Here it is stopped with soft Flöten. The chorale
Allein Gott in der Hohe sey Ehr (10), arranged
in four voices and dominated here by
Schnitger’s bright 1’ register, is framed by a
short prologue and a short coda respectively.
Whereas Schildt’s chorale fantasia (05)
from the Magnificat embodies an early, virtuoso
example of this genre, Bruhns’s tranquil
work Nun komm der Heyden Heyland
(11), radiates a meditative atmosphere. The
well known Advent chorale, whose four lines
divide the work into four compositionally
different sections, is heard through the long
piece like a leitmotif. Occasionally, however,
genre-typical devices such as echo-effects and
dramatic pauses break through.
The well known “lesser” Praeludium in
E Minor (12) captivates with its symmetric
form, the middle of which contains a buoyant
Italianate fugue. Especially effective
here is the pedal solo heard under blocks of
chords, the following echo passages as well as
the conclusion with its “accelerated” chordal
repetitions.
S childt’s Paduana Lachrimae (13) is an
arrangement of John Dowland’s famous melody,
which had already served William Byrd,
Giles Farnaby and Sweelinck as a model for
keyboard compositions… …In his version…
Schildt created possibly the most significant of
all Lachrymae settings, with its alternation between
the quiet introversion of Dowland’s original
composition and the expansive, written-out
ornamentation that is even found in the lower
voices… It is a piece of the greatest and most
intense expressiveness.12
Bruhns’ “great” Praeludium in E Minor
(14) is “the… most impressive example
of a Northern German organ toccata ever.”13
This work, whose frequent breaks go hand
in hand with new affects, has more changes
in time signature than any single work before
Bach. In the registration, every change
of affect is presented with a new set of tone
colors. Similar to the opening Praeludium in
G Major, the Praeludium in E Minor follows
the structure of a Northern German toccata
with its free sections and two – here, completely
different – fugues. Despite its many
abrupt changes and dramatic rests, the work
radiates a high degree of musical logic and
decisiveness. While the beginning and end of
the Praeludium in G Major were stopped on
a 16’ basis in the manual with the restrained
Quintadena, the truly “great” Praeludium in
E Minor that concludes this program are registrated
with the solemn Trompete.
Joseph Kelemen
Translation: Elizabeth Gahbler
1 Athanasius Kircher, Musurgia universalis sive
ars magna consoni et dissoni, Rome 1650, in:
Matthias Schneider, Ad ostentandum ingenium,
& abditam harmoniae rationem
– Zum Stylus phantasticus bei Kircher und
Mattheson, in: Basler Jahrbuch für Historische
Musikpraxis XXII, Winterthur 1999, p. 204f.,
German translation by Matthias Schneider.
2 Johann Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister,
Hamburg 1739, Bärenreiter, Kassel
1999, § 93–94.
3 A description of the Stylus phantasticus can be
found in: Jürgen Trinkewitz, Historisches Cembalospiel.
Ein Lehrwerk auf der Basis von Quellen
des 16. bis 19. Jahrhunderts, Stuttgart 2009,
Chapter 6.8.5.
4 Quoted in: Schulze, Hans-Joachim, Dokumente
zum Nachwirken Johann Sebastian Bachs
1750–1800, Kassel 1972, p. 82.
5 The disposition can be found in: Nicolaus
Bruhns, Sämtliche Orgelwerke, Edition Breitkopf,
Wiesbaden 2008, Ed. Harald Vogel, p. 59.
6 S ee the picture of the city of Husum printed on
pp. 6–7.
7 M artin Geck, Nicolaus Bruhns. Leben und
Werk, Cologne 1968, p. 13.
8 For a history and documentation of the organ,
see Harald Vogel/Reinhard Ruge/Robert
Noah, Orgellandschaft Ostfriesland, Norden
1997, pp. 27–31. The specification of the Arp
Schnitger organ printed on pp. 18–19 of this
booklet is taken from this volume (p. 162).
9 S ee the back booklet cover.
10 M attheson, op. cit., § 88.
11 Das Husumer Orgelbuch von 1758, Carus Stuttgart
2001, Ed. Konrad Küster.
12 Lied- und Tanzvariationen der Sweelinck-Schule,
Ed. Werner Breig, Schott Mainz 1970, Preface.
13 Geck, op. cit., p. 25.