Matthias Weckmann: Complete Organ Works
Léon Berben
1637 Stellwagen organ, St. Jakobi, Lübeck
1624 Hans Scherer organ, St. Stephanus, Tangermünde
Aeolus. AE-11431. 2CDs 72’27+78’29

Matthias Weckmann (c1616-1674) is one of the most interesting and influential of the North German pre-Buxtehude organist composers. Unlike most of the other organists in Hamburg, he was not a pupil of Sweelinck but was clearly influenced by those who were, not least his teacher for three years, Jacob Praetorius, organist of the Hamburg Petrikirche and Heinrich Scheidemann organist of the Catharinenkirche. His own organ playing was said to have combined elements of the style of both Praetorius and Scheidemann. His earlier musical training had been in Dresden when he was a chorister at the Saxon Court under the court composer Heinrich Schütz, a pupil of Giovanni Gabrieli. After his Hamburg years and a short period with Schütz in Denmark, he became the Electoral Court Organist in Dresden where he met and befriended the much-travelled Froberger, a pupil of Frescobaldi. The pair engaged in a famous keyboard competition arranged by the Saxon Elector. In 1655 he returned to Hamburg as organist of the Jakobkirche after a well-documented audition, records of which gave valuable information about the expectations of a Hamburg organist and practical information about, for example, registration practice at the time. He founded the Hamburg Collegium Musicum.

For this recording, Léon Berben uses two early German baroque organs, one of each of the two disks: the Friedrich Stellwagen organ (1636) in St. Jakobi Church in Lubeck (disc 1) and the Hans Scherer organ (1624) in St. Stephen’s Church in Tangermunde (disc 2), both well preserved and suitably restored instruments. Weckmann’s surviving pieces show the strong influence of Italian music, an influence that he takes much further than his contemporary North German organist composers. That is particularly evident in the shorter free works that are not based on Lutheran chorales. With Italian titles such as Praeambulum, Toccata, Fuga, and Canzon, they are performed in this recording in a very free and improvisatory style that may not be to everybody’s taste – and, I suggest, may not have been to Weckmann’s case either. The first two pages of the programme notes are an essay by Léon Berben explanation of his approach to ornamentation and elaboration.

This performing style separates these recordings from the many other Weckmann organ recordings, notably the pioneering 1991 recording by Hans Davidson (Motette Ursina – DCD 11461). This was presented alongside an edition of the free works and an analysis of Weckmann’s organ music as a doctoral dissertation towards becoming Sweden’s first doctor of music performance. It was key to bringing Weckmann to a wider audience, as well as improbing understanding of the North German organ and its composers.

The specifications of the two organs are given but, not surprisingly, the individual registrations of all 47 tracks. The choice of registrations is varied and apt, given the nature of the music. The programme ends with Weckmann’s monumental Es ist das Heil kommen her, a set of seven variations of the Lutheran chorale and one of the most extraordinary compositions of the era. At about 35 minutes in length, it is the longest such organ work from the whole of the 17th century and includes as its sixth verse the most extensive and complex Chorale Fantasia of that era.

This recording seems to be a re-release of a 2020 recording, released under the number AE-11261 with a different cover photo.