HANS LEO HASSLER.
TITLE-PAGE OF “SYNTAGMA MUSICUM.”
(See page [573].)
One of the most prominent masters of the early part of the seventeenth century was Michael Prætorius (1571–1621). He witnessed the great change which was then taking place in music, but contributed nothing to it himself. He endeavored, however, to educate his countrymen to appreciate the new style of secular music which, in Italy, was then making rapid headway in the operas of Peri, Caccini and others. For a number of years he was organist and director of music at Brunswick, where he died. In his great admiration and study of the new Italian masters, he did not, like his eminent successor, Heinrich Schütz, lose his nationality. The number of works he composed, collected, and elaborated is two thousand.
His most important contribution to music, however, is his “Syntagma Musicum,” a theoretical work of great value to students of musical history. Concerning instruments and the theory of music, it is a rich source of knowledge.
During the seventeenth century the opera was invented and ardently cultivated in Italy. With the adoption of the new lyric style of recitative and aria, much greater scope was possible for artistic instrumental music than ever before. The violas and other bowed instruments were brought into prominence, and in the course of the seventeenth century formed the basis of the orchestra. Yet, during the latter half of the sixteenth century considerable use was made of instrumental accompaniment in church music. In the choir, directed by Orlando Lasso, in Munich, from 1569 till 1595 there were twelve bass singers, fifteen tenors, thirteen altos, twenty sopranos, and thirty instrumentalists. The Dresden band had ninety-three wind and percussion instruments, and only thirteen stringed instruments. The curious character of some of these combinations is indicated in the clearest possible way on the title-page of Prætorius’ “Syntagma Musicum.” Here we see three separate choruses, each accompanied by a separate organ. In the first of these (at the left of the illustration) the voices are supported by stringed instruments, in the second (at the right), by reed instruments, and in the third, by trombones and bassoon.
Hand in hand with the development of orchestral accompaniment, the seventeenth century witnessed a wonderful development of organ and clavier playing. In this also Italy took the lead. The first great artists in organ playing were Italians; the most prominent of whom were Claudio Merulo and Giovanni Gabrieli, appointed organists at St. Mark’s in Venice in 1551 and 1557. A noted disciple of this Venetian organ school was the Netherlander, Jan Pieters Sweelinck, who studied under Zarlino and Cyprian de Rore. Later he was the teacher of various German organists, among whom was Samuel Scheidt (1587–1654). The “father of true organ playing,” Girolamo Frescobaldi (1587–1640), organist of St. Peter’s in Rome, wielded even greater influence on Germany through his famous pupils, Caspar Kerl and Jacob Froberger. Various forms of composition, whose names suggest their Italian origin, became common in Germany at this time; such as the capriccio, the canzona, the toccata and the ricercata. In all these forms fugal imitation is predominant, and the modern fugue begins to take determined shape. Pachelbel (1653–1706), a pupil of Kerl, was the first to combine the various advantages of both the German and Italian schools, and his works also mark the establishment of the modern tonal system. He made important advances in fugal art. We of to-day recognize the wonderful artistic consistency of Bach’s master-works in the fugue form. We note that they are composed of various sections which include separate developments of a principal theme, and that these sections are connected by episodical passages of a character similar to that of the rest of the composition. But we are apt to lose sight of the fact that this perfection of form was of very gradual growth. Pachelbel was the first to feel the necessity of attaining such artistic unity by careful attention to these details of construction. His successful endeavors to individualize and to group his ideas give a hitherto unknown clearness of form to his organ fantasias and toccatas. In his fantasias especially he employs rich figurations, but always with the evident purpose of making such ornamentation naturally grow out of the thematic material of the work, and all is carefully designed with reference to the nature of the instrument. His contemporary, Johann Adam Reinken, who died in 1732, at the age of ninety-nine, was, as composer and player, a veritable virtuoso. Sebastian Bach made two journeys to Hamburg for the purpose of hearing this master play. But, among all the predecessors of Bach in this branch, the most prominent was Dietrich Buxtehude, organist at Lübeck from 1669 to 1707. In all respects he elevated the art of organ composition and organ playing. The structure of his themes shows the greatest appreciation of the peculiar character of the instrument. Two years before Buxtehude’s death Bach became his pupil, and the influence of Buxtehude[[23]] is seen in the earlier organ compositions of Bach.
Clavier, or clavichord, composition was of later growth. At first, indeed, the same principles were applied to both instruments. The earlier English and Italian clavier masters used the various forms of organ composition with little regard for the different construction of the instruments. But as time went on the less ponderous of the two instruments became the exponent of the gayer moods, as represented by various forms of the dance. Under French masters, especially, the clavier began to have a style of its own. The clavier suite, or partita, was the favorite form, and consisted of a succession of dance movements. The name sonata, now of such definite meaning in connection with chamber music, was at first represented by short Venetian organ pieces. Subsequently, in the seventeenth century, the sonata was a composition for one or more violins with clavier. This originated in Italy under Corelli and others, and was imitated in England by Purcell, and in Germany by Biber and others. The first application of the name sonata to a solo for clavier was made by Johann Kuhnau, Bach’s predecessor as cantor of the St. Thomas School at Leipzig. His “Fresh Clavier Fruits; or, Seven Sonatas of good Invention and adapted to the Clavier,” shows by its title that this branch of composition was receiving some attention at a time which has been wholly eclipsed by the splendor of the succeeding period.
From this rapid sketch of the progress of organ and clavier music during this period, which produced but few works that have survived, we see how steady was the development of the art which became grand and ultimate in the works of Sebastian Bach, and how intimate was this master’s connection with the musical activity of his time. A similar review of the course of the opera and the oratorio will enable us to trace the growth of certain other art forms which took definite shape before the dawn of Germany’s musical greatness.