Tabulatura Nova

Early Music Day recital, Grosvenor Chapel, 19 March 2024

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Andrew Benson-Wilson, organ
Mayfair Organ Concerts
The Grosvenor Chapel
South Audley Street, Mayfair, London W1K 2PA
Tuesday 19 March 2024, 1:10


BEFORE BACH

Andrew’s annual Early Music Day recitals are usually focussed on the music of JS Bach, reflecting the fact that Early Music Day is on 21 March, the date of Bach’s birth under the current calendar. This year, Andrew is giving two Early Music recitals, with the titles of BEFORE BACH and AFTER BACH. This first recital traces the history of German organ music from the Buxheimer Orgelbuch c1460 to Johann Pachelbel, the teacher of Bach’s older brother, Johann Christoph Bach. It seems likely that the 9-year-old Bach met Pachelbel at his older brother’s 1694 wedding.

Other composers represent the south, centre and north of Germany, including Hans Buchner (1483-1538), Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629), Mathias Weckmann (1617-74) in his anniversary year, and Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654)) in the 400th anniversary of his Tabulatura nova (1624).

The recital focussed on music written for the Catholic and Lutheran service of Vespers, notably the Magnificat, one of the key musical moments of the service in both churches. We hear versions from five composers, concluding with Scheidt’s Modus Pleno Organo Pedaliter Benedicamus à 6 Voc, composed for the conclusion of a Vespers Service as well as being the final piece in the Tabulatura nova.

Conrad Paumann (c1410-1473) Incipit Fundamentum m.C.p.C;
Magnificat Octavi Toni.
(From the Buxheimer Orgelbuch, c1460)

Hans Buchner (1483-1538) Magnificat anima sexti Toni.

Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629) Magnificat Tertii Toni.

Mathias Weckmann (1617-74) Magnificat II. Toni.

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) Fantasia in G; Three Fugues from the Magnificat tertii Toni

Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654) Benedicamus à 6 Voc. 1624

Continue reading →

Andrew Benson-Wilson plays Scheidt: Tabulatura Nova III – A Lutheran Vespers

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Andrew Benson-Wilson
plays
Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654)
Tabulatura Nova III
A Lutheran organ Vespers

Queen's organ photo.jpg

The Queen’s College Chapel, Oxford
Wednesday 24 October, 1:10

Andrew’s series of concerts featuring the North German pupils of Sweelinck (the ‘Orpheus of Amsterdam’) continues with this, the second of two recitals of music by one of Sweelinck’s most distinguished pupils, Samuel Scheidt. His influential three-volume Tabulatura Nova was published in 1624 and is one of the most important of all the many collections of organ music. Its 58 pieces are a comprehensive demonstration of compositional styles. Whereas the first two volumes included a variety of sacred and secular pieces in different styles, Volume III consists entirely of Lutheran liturgical music. It opens with settings for the Ordinary of the Mass, followed by the settings of the hymns and Magnificat for a Lutheran Vespers. It ends with one of the most extraordinary pieces of the whole 17th century North German organ repertoire: the powerful Modus pleno Organo pedaliter: Benedicamus à  6 Voc, its six voices divided between four on the manuals and two on the pedals.

Kyrie Dominicale 4. Toni
Gloria Canit Pastor: Et in terra pax 
Credo in unum Deum

Hymnus: Veni Creator Spiritus

Magnificat 9 Toni

Psalmus sub Comminione: Jesus Christus, unser Heiland

Modus pleno Organo pedaliter: Benedicamus à 6 Voc

Played on the influential Frobenius organ. More information here.
Admission free – retiring collection.

Andrew Benson-Wilson plays Scheidt: Tabulatura Nova I

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

The Grosvenor Chapel
South Audley Street, Mayfair, London W1K 2PA
Tuesday 11 September, 1:10

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Andrew Benson-Wilson
plays
Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654)
Tabulatura Nova I

Andrew’s series of concerts featuring the North German pupils of Sweelinck, the ‘Orpheus of Amsterdam’, continues with two recitals of music by one of his most distinguished pupils, Samuel Scheidt. His influential three-volume Tabulatura Nova was published in 1624. It is one of the most important of all collections of organ music. Its 58 pieces are a comprehensive demonstration of compositional styles. This recital, played on the William Drake organ in the Grosvenor Chapel, features three large-scale pieces from Volume 1 of the Tabulatura Nova.

Cantio Sacra: Wie gleuben all an einen Gott
Fantasia: Io son ferito lasso 
Cantio Belgica: Ach du feiner Reuter

The next Scheidt recital will be on the famous Frobenius organ in the chapel of The Queen’s College Oxford, on Wednesday 24 October 2018, starting at 1:10. It will be of pieces from Volume 3 of the Tabulatura Nova, in the form of Lutheran Organ Vespers.

Both concerts are free admission, with retiring donations welcomed.

Scheidt: Keyboard music transmitted in manuscript form

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Samuel Scheidt: Keyboard music transmitted in manuscript form
ed. Peter Dirksen
120pp, 230×305 mm, ISMN: 979-0-004-18395-3
Edition Breitkopf EB8831.

Following the three volumes of Scheidt’s Tabulatura Nova (reviewed here), the most recent of the Breitkopf Scheidt edition, recently published, covers the keyboard music found in manuscript sources. The importance of his three volume Tabulatura Nova has meant that the music not included in those volumes is usually overlooked, Continue reading →

Scheidt: Tabulatura Nova III

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Samuel Scheidt: Tabulatura Nova III
ed. Harald Vogel
192pp, 230×305 mm, ISMN: 979-0-004-18122-5
Edition Breitkopf EB8567.

Breitkopf & Härtel have completed their important four volume series of the organ and keyboard works of Samuel Scheidt. Volumes I & II of Scheidt’s monumental 1624 Tabulatura Nova were published as EB 8565 and EB 8566 (containing works SSWV 102-126 & 127-138 respectively), both edited by Harald Vogel, as is the third volume, EB 8567 reviewed here. This contains works SSWV 139-158, the nine Magnificat settings together with a Kyrie and Hymn settings and Continue reading →