The Queen’s College Chapel, Oxford. 25 November 2015
German Renaissance Organ Music c1460-1577
Andrew Benson-Wilson
Conrad Paumann (c1410-1473) Gloria de Sancta Maria Vergine
Paul Hofhaimer (1459-1537) Salve Regina 5v.
Hans Buchner (1483-1538) Gloria patri in la quarto toni
Hans Kotter (c1485-1541) Kochersperger Spanieler
Arnolt Schlick (c1460-c1521) Da pacem
Bernhard Schmid I (1535-92) Ein gutter Wein ist lobenswerdt – Sicut mater consolatur
The start of the Renaissance is difficult to define. In organ music, around 1450 seems a reasonable date, with music from the likes of the Buxheimer Orgelbüch and the Faenza Codex combining elements of Medieval and Renaissance styles. By this stage, the organ had a fully chromatic keyboard, sometimes more than one manual, and independent stops were beginning to be separated out from the Medieval ‘Blockwerk’ – the equivalent of single mixture where one note plays a chorus of ten or more notes.
The first piece demonstrates this transitional phase. Continue reading