Heinrich Scheidemann
(c. 1595-1663)
Works for Organ,
Volume 2
Heinrich Scheidemann was born in about 1595 in Wöhrden, Holstein where
his father David was organist. By 1604 the family had moved to Hamburg, when
David Scheidemann became the organist of Catharinenkirche. During the
seventeenth century Hanseatic Hamburg was a thriving town with a strong economy
and a flourishing culture. The town's location close to the river Elbe and the
different seas made it ideal for merchants from a variety of ports. Organists
were highly esteemed in these prosperous times, and the Scheidemann family
surely benefited from the city's goodwill. Young Heinrich must have impressed
the congregation's elders directly, as from 1611 to 1614 the parish of the
Catharinenkirche supported Heinrich during his studies with Jan Pieterszoon
Sweelinck in Amsterdam. Not much else is known about Heinrich Scheidemann until
1629, when he succeeded his father as organist at the Catharinenkirche, serving
also as clerk for the congregation. A further indication of the organist's high
status was the congregation's arrangement with the city to exempt Scheidemann
from taxes and from conscription. He enjoyed a considerable reputation as an
organist, composer and teacher during his lifetime, and his students included
his successor Johann Adam Reinken and Jacob Lorentz, the grandson of
Scheidemann's colleague Jacob Praetorius. He died in 1663, probably a victim of
the plague that ravaged Hamburg during this period.
A large part of Scheidemann's music was unknown until the 1950s, when
important documents were discovered by Gustav Pock in the Calvörschen Bibliotek
at Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany. As a result of this discovery, Scheidemann' s
work was revealed as the largest surviving body of composition from among the
students of Sweelinck. Sweelinck's influence is obvious in the music of
Scheidemann, particularly in the virtuoso clavier-style inspired by the English
virginalists and the vocal Italian style. Scheidemann combined these ideas with
newer elements, inspired by the large North German organs, as, for example, the
four-manual organ at the Catharinenkirche, rebuilt and extended during the
period of Scheidemann's tenure.
One new stylistic element was Scheidemann's method of lifting out an
ornamented solo-voice on one manual, with continuo accompaniment by two voices
on another manual and a third in the pedal. Another new element typical to
Scheidemann was the use of echo effects between the various manuals, directly
reflecting the larger organ of Catharinenkirche relative to Sweelinck's organ
in the Oudekerk in Amsterdam.
Scheidemann's organ-music can be divided into two categories: freely
composed works, and compositions based on a melody or cantus firmus. On
this recording the two Praeambula, the Toccata, Fantasy and Fugue
can be placed in the first group, although probably the Toccata and Fantasy
were intended originally for harpsichord. The other pieces on the recording
are based on a cantus firmus. The two verses of Lobet den Herren,
denn er ist sehr freundlich were composed together, although they are, in
fact, two individual variations. The piece starts as a normal four-part
chorale with an ornamented melody. As the piece progresses the concept changes,
coloured with echos and toccata passages in a more virtuoso style. The
original idea with the ornamented cantus firmus recurs as the piece ends
in the style it started.
During the seventeenth century in Hamburg the hymn Komm, Heiliger
Geist, Herre Gott opened the weekly services. In this chorale setting
Scheidemann once more uses the idea of an ornamented cantus firmus but,
before each phrase of the ornamented solo voice, the same phrase in its simple
form is used in the pedal as the foundation for the interlude.
The organ Magnificats probably were performed in alternatim with
the choir during the Vesper services. In the first and fourth verse of Magnificat
III Toni one can clearly hear the melody in the bass. In the two middle
verses Scheidemann presents the cantus firmus in different voices and
styles, sometimes as an ornamented melody or other times concealed within the
polyphony.
As with the Magnificats, the hymn O lux beata trinitas was
also used in the Vesper service. In the first verse the melody occurs in the
bass voice and in the second verse in the soprano. In the first verse of Christ
lag in Todesbanden, after an imitative introduction, the melody appears in
the bass. The second verse is written for two manuals and pedal. The left hand
and pedal are the harmonic foundation for the solo in the right hand. The first
phrase of the melody is unembellished, while in the others the melody is more
or less hidden within a musical string of pearls. The third verse is a duo, a
common form in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a reaction to
polyphonic music. The cantus firmus is in long note values in the upper
voice, contrasted by the moving bass line. Another duo is found in the second
verse of Es spricht der Unweisen Mund wohl.
The motet-tabulation
based on Hassler's motet Alleluja, laudem dicite Dea nostro was probably
used in the service when the boys' choir, the Kantorei, was absent. The
organist was required to 'substitute' for the choir when they were appearing in
one of the city's other churches.
The variation over the hymn In dich hab ich gehoffet, Herr is
written for two manuals without pedal, with the melody appearing in both the
soprano and the bass. Echo passages abound, reminding the listener of
Sweelinck's echo fantasies. The closing measures are identical to the last bars
of a work by Scheidemann's contemporary Andreas Düben, Wo Gott der Herr
nicht bei uns hält.
Scheidemann was clearly inspired by Sweelinck, and he bequeathed this
inspiration to the next generation of organ composers, together with his own
'Scheidemannesque sweetness', to use the words of Mattheson. Many of
Scheidemann's musical ideas prevailed well into the eighteenth century,
inspiring the compositions of famous organists such as Reinken, Buxtehude and
Each.
Karin Nelson
Karin Nelson
Karin Nelson was born in Skellefteå in the far north of Sweden. She
studied music and education at the Piteå School of Music and church music at
the Gothenburg School of Music, from which she received her diploma as an
organist. She went on to study harpsichord and organ at the Sweelinck
Conservatory in Amsterdam. Karin Nelson's studies in interpretation have
centred on both early and contemporary music under the guidance of, among
others, Jacques van Oortmerssen and Hans-Ola Ericsson. Since 1991 she has been
organist at Haga Church in Gothenburg, where she also teaches at the University
School of Music. Her current research is into the tradition of organ Magnificats,
particularly in the work of Heinrich Scheidemann.