Weckmann

Matthias Weckmann: Complete Organ Works

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

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.

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Two German Anniversaries: 1624 & 1674

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Mayfair Organ Concerts
St George’s, Hanover Square
Tuesday 2 July 2024, 1.10pm

Two German Anniversaries: 1624 & 1674
Samuel Scheidt and Matthais Weckmann
Andrew Benson-Wilson


This concert celebrates the 400th and 350th anniversaries of two of the most important German composers of the early 17th century: the publication in 1624 of Samuel Scheidt’s seminal three-volume Tabulatura nova and the death in 1674 of Matthias Weckmann.

Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654)
Tabulatura nova, 1624
Echo ad manuale duplex forte et lene
Fantasia super Io son ferito lasso
Modus pleno Organo pedaliter: Benedicamus à 6 Voc

Matthias Weckmann (c1616-1674)
Canzon in G
Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmein
Praeludium A.5 Vocem

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Early Music Day recital: BEFORE BACH programme notes

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Mayfair Organ Concerts – The Grosvenor Chapel
19 March 2024

Early Music Day concert
Andrew Benson-Wilson
BEFORE BACH

Conrad Paumann (c1410-1473) Incipit Fundamentum m.C.p.C;
Magnificat Octavi Toni. 2v
(From the Buxheimer Orgelbuch, c1460)

Hans Buchner (1483-1538) Magnificat anima sexti Toni. 2v

Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629) Magnificat Tertii Toni. 3v

Mathias Weckmann (1617-74) Magnificat II. Toni. 4v

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

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

This is the first of two related Early Music Day concerts with the titles of BEFORE BACH and AFTER BACH. The second concert, AFTER BACH, is this Sunday, 24 March at 7.45 in Christ’s Chapel of Alleyn’s College of God’s Gift, 14 Gallery Rd, Dulwich SE21 7AD with music by Stanley, CPE Bach and Corrette. Today’s concert traces German organ music from around 1460 to Bach’s youth, with a focus on music for the service of Vespers, notably the Magnificat, one of the key musical elements of Vespers in both the Catholic and Lutheran traditions.

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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

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Handel’s Attick: Music For Solo Clavichord

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Handel’s Attick: Music for Solo Clavichord
Julian Perkins, clavichords
Music by Arne, Ebner, Froberger, Handel, Kerll, D Scarlatti, Weckmann and Zachow
Deux-Elles DXL 1191. 75’33


This excellent recording from Julian Perkins is based on a story from Handel’s childhood, as told by John Mainwaring in his 1760 Memoirs of the Life of Handel. His father, suspicious of his musical interests, tried to stop him from playing any musical instruments at home. This led to Handel smuggling a tiny clavichord into the attic of their house so that he could practice at night, having “found means to get a little clavichord privately convey’d to a room at the top of the house“.

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Programme notes: Weckmann recital

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson ~ 1 Comment

The Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair
Tuesday 1 November 2016

Andrew Benson-Wilson

Matthias Weckmann (1616-1674)

 Praeludium A . 5 . Vocum
Canzon in G
Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmain
Fantasia ex D
Toccata ex d
Komm, heiliger Geist, Herr Gott

 Matthias Weckmann is one of the most influential 17th century organist composers of the North German school. He was born in Thuringia, studied in Dresden with Schütz, a pupil of G. Gabrieli, and in Hamburg with Jacob Praetorius, a Sweelinck pupil. He settled in Hamburg in 1655 as organist of the Jacobikirche where he remained until his death. He is buried beneath the Jacobikirche organ. It was said that Weckmann “moderated the seriousness of Praetorius with the sweetness of Scheidemann, and also introduced many new elegant discoveries“. After Andrew’s Benson-Wilson’s performance of his monumental set of chorale variations on Es ist das Heil kommen her at St George’s, Hanover Square (on 11 October), today’s programmes looks at a selection of Weckmann’s free works, together with two contrasting three-verse works based on chorales.

The Praeludium A . 5 . Vocum is anonymous in the original manuscript, but there are stylistic reasons why it is likely to be by Weckmann, Continue reading →

Grosvenor Chapel: Weckmann (b1616)

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Mayfair Organ Concerts
The Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, Mayfair , London W1K 2PA
1 November 2016, 1:10-1:50

Matthias Weckmann  (1616-1674)

In the last of his three recitals of the organ music of Matthias Weckmann (in his anniversary year), Andrew Benson-Wilson plays the William Drake organ in the Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, Mayfair in a programme of a Praeludium, Toccata, Canzon, Fantasia and two contrasting chorale-based works.

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Review: Weckmann ‘Es ist das Heil’ recital

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson ~ Leave a comment

Review from Classical Events
Andrew Benson-Wilson
Organ recital at St George’s Church Hanover Square, London
Tuesday 11 October 2016 13:10

This is one of series of the Mayfair Organ Concerts. The lunchtime concert was given by Andrew Benson-Wilson who specialises in the performance of early organ music, ranging from 14th century manuscripts to the late Classical Period. The original organ at St George’s was built in 1725 by Gerard Smith. The old case has been extended to contain a new organ which was completed in 2012.

The concert consisted of one work: Matthias Weckmann’s (1616-1674) monumental seven verses on the choral melody ‘Es ist das Heil kommen her’. At a playing time of about 35 minutes it is perhaps one of the longest and most extraordinary works of its time. The story follows that Luther, on hearing the melody sung by a beggar, was reduced to tears.

Salvation has come to us
from grace and sheer kindness
Works never help,
they cannot protect us.
Faith looks towards Jesus Christ
who has done enough for all of us.
He has become our mediator

Although the hymn has 14 verses there is little correlation with the seven organ verses. This evidences a performance as an individual work rather than part of a church service.

Andrew provided ample programme notes to describe the treatment of the chorale theme and gave a short introduction to the lunchtime audience. The performance had a confident and assured touch of someone who understood the musical style. His clarity of counterpoint allied to the programme notes helped the listener to identify the processes and individual lines of the music.

The original Classical Events review is here.

Weckmann – ‘Es ist das Heil’

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson ~ Leave a comment

SGHS main organ.jpg

Mayfair Organ Concerts
St George Hanover Square, St George Street, London W1S 
11 October 2016, 1:10-1.50

Matthias Weckmann  (1616-1674)
‘Es ist das Heil kommen her’

Andrew Benson-Wilson plays the monumental set of 7 verses on the Lutheran chorale ‘Es ist das Heil kommen her’ written by Matthias Weckmann (1616-1674). Lasting about 35 minutes, it is the longest such organ work from the whole of the 17th century. It includes, as the sixth verse, the most extensive and most complex Chorale Fantasia of that era.

It is played on the 2012 Richards, Fowkes & Co organ in St George’s Hanover Square, based on North German 17th/18th century organs.
Admission free – retiring collection.
Programme notes below

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Weckmann recital: programme notes

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson ~ 1 Comment

The Queen’s College Chapel, Oxford.  27 April 2016
WP_20151124_12_09_44_Pro.jpgMatthias Weckmann
1616–1674

Andrew Benson-Wilson

Praeambulum Primi toni a 5
Ach wir armen Sünder (3v)
Canzon V
Magnificat Secundi Toni (4v)
Toccata ex D
Gelobet seystu, Jesu Christ (4v)

Matthias Weckmann is one of the most influential 17th century organist composers of the North German – a compositional school that started with Hieronymus Praetorius and the pupils of Sweelinck and culminated in Buxtehude and, by influence, Bach. Weckmann’s contribution was to bring elements of the Italian style to North Germany. Unlike most of his contemporaries who were born in or near Hamburg and studied in Amsterdam, Weckmann was born in Thuringia. He studied in the Dresden Court under Heinrich Schütz, a pupil of Giovanni Gabrieli, and in Hamburg with Jacob Praetorius, a Sweelinck pupil. After periods in Denmark and Dresden (where he befriended Froberger, also born in 1616), Weckmann settled in Hamburg in 1655, becoming organist of the Jacobikirche and setting up the Collegium Musicum. He is buried beneath the Jacobikirche organ.

The Praeambulum Primi toni a 5 is a fine example of the mid-17th century North German style of free composition that led Continue reading →

Matthias Weckmann (1616-1674)

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Andrew Benson-Wilson plays music by
Matthias Weckmann (1616-1674)
on the famous Frobenius organ in the Chapel of The Queen’s College, Oxford. 
27 April 2016, 13:10.

A recital of organ music by the Hamburg master organist/composer, Matthias Weckmann, born 400 years ago this year. A pupil of Schütz who, in turn, was a pupil of Giovanni Gabrieli, Weckmann studied and worked in Dresden and Denmark. A friend of the influential Froberger, Weckmann settled in Hamburg in 1655 as organist of the Jakobikirche. He died in 1674 and is buried beneath the Jakobikirche organ.

Praeambulum Primi toni a 5
Ach wir armen Sünder (3v)
Canzon V
Magnificat Secundi Toni (4v)
Toccata ex D
Gelobet seystu, Jesu Christ (4v)

Programme note here.

Admission free – retiring collection.  Organ information here.
See also www.organrecitals.com/abw.