Andreas Werkmeister ( German: Andreas Werckmeister ; November 30, 1645 , Benneckenstein - October 26, 1706 , Halberstadt ) - German music theorist, organist , composer . He developed the doctrine of good temperaments , which became widespread in German music of the Baroque era. Werkmeister's temperaments are used in authentic interpretations of baroque clavier music.
Andreas Werkmeister Andreas Werckmeister | |
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Title page of the treatise of A. Werkmeister “Testing of the organ” (2nd edition, 1698) | |
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Professions | music theorist, organist, composer |
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Biography
C 1664 organist in Hasselfeld, then in Elbingerode, from 1696 in the church of St. Martin in Halberstadt.
Scientific Activities
The main merit of Werkmeister is considered to be the introduction of several so-called good temperaments into German music. The term “good” means temperament that allows you to play in all keys. Werkmeister described in detail 4 types of such temperaments, each of them is uneven. His works “Musikalische Temperatur” (1691) and “Orgel-Probe” (1698) influenced Johann Sebastian Bach and may have been reflected in Bach ’s famous Well Tempered Clavier [4] .
The attitude of Werkmeister to a uniformly tempered order , contrary to a fairly widespread opinion, was not unambiguous: accepting all the advantages of a uniform temperament, he noted that without losing the possibility of playing in all keys, the “most common tertiations” should be made cleaner - and this is achievable only with uneven temperament.
Werkmeister is also the author of works on the counterpoint (polyphony), general-bass (harmony), technique of musical composition in general. Werkemeister owns the first (registered) qualification of a triton as “the devil in music” (diabolus in musica) [5] , and the metaphor of diabolus in musica was applied by Werkmeister not only to the triton, but also in relation to the chromatic semitone ( apotome ). The peculiarity of Werkmeister’s views was the idea he professed about the fundamental relationship between the laws of music and the laws of motion of celestial bodies, going back to Kepler’s works.
Musical compositions
The number of surviving musical compositions by Werkmeister is insignificant. Among them are a collection of pieces for violin and the basso continuo "Musical Entertainment" ("Musicalische Privatlust"; published in Quedlinburg, 1689); instrumental, including organ, compositions preserved in manuscripts, as well as the Christmas cantata “Where is the born King of the Jews?” (“Wo ist der neugeborne König der Juden” [6] ).
Theoretical writings
- Orgel-Probe , oder Kurtze Beschreibung, wie und welcher Gestalt man die Orgel-Wercke von den Orgelmachern annehmen, probiren, untersuchen und den Kirchen liefern könne und solle (“Testing of an organ, or a brief description of the form in which organs are taken how to test, inspect and supply organs to churches (Frankfurt u. Leipzig, 1681); the second edition entitled “Erweiterte und verbesserte Orgel-Probe” (Quedlinburg, 1698);
- Musicae mathematicae hodegus curiosus oder Weig-Weiser richtiger musicalischer ("Detailed hodegus of musical mathematics, or the right musical guidebook"; Frankfurt u. Leipzig, 1686, reprinted in 1687);
- Musicalische Temperatur , oder deutlicher und warer Mathematische Unterricht, wie man durch Anweisung des MONOCHORDI ein Clavier, sonderlich die Orgel-Wercke, Positive, Regale how is it possible with the help of MONOHORD to set up the clavier well, and especially organs, positives , regals , spinetts and the like <instruments>; second edition - Frankfurt u. Leipzig, 1691 [7] );
- Der edlen Music-Kunst Würde , Gebrauch und Missbrauch, so wohl aus der heiligen Schrift als auch aus etlich alten und neubewährten reinen Kirchen-Lehrern und dann aus Musik-Gründen so also with some ancient and new righteous teachers of the Church, and then proceeding from the foundations of music (Frankfurt u. Leipzig, 1691);
- Nucleus Musicus (“The Core of Music”, manuscript, ca. 1697, not preserved);
- Hypomnemata Musica , oder musikalisches Memorial, welter bestehet in kurtzer
- Erweiterte und verbesserte Orgelprobe (“Expanded and Improved Version of the Organ Tests”; Quedlinburg, 1698);
- Die nothwendigsten Anmerkungen und Regeln, wie der Bassus continuus oder General-Bass wol könne tractiret werden (“Necessary remarks and rules about how well to interpret bassus continuus or general-bass”; Aschersleben, 1698; reprint Aschersleben, 1700);
- Cribrum Musicum , oder Musikalisches Sieb darinnen einige Mängel eines halb gelehrten Componente vorgestellet and das Böse von dem separated from evil "(Quedlinburg u. Leipzig, 1700);
- Musicalisches Send-Schreiben (“An Open Letter on Music”; Quedlinburg and Aschersleben, 1700); German translation of A. Steffani 's book “Quanta certezza habbia da suoi principii la musica” (Amsterdam, 1695) with introduction and extensive commentary;
- Harmonologia Musica oder Kurtze Einleitung zur musical Composition, wie man vermittels der Regeln und Anmerckungen bey den musical composition, as through the rules and explanations to the general-bass, you can compose and play from memory a simple counterpoint with a special advantage of three chords or takes "(Frankfurt u. Leipzig, 1702);
- Organum Gruningense Redivivum oder Kurtze Beschreibung des In der Grueningischen Schlos-Kirchen beruehmten Orgel-Wercks (“Updated organ in Gröningen, or Brief description of the famous organ in the Gröningen castle”; Quedlinburg and Aschersleben, 1705) [8] ;
- Musicalische Paradoxal-Discourse oder Ungemeine Vorstellungen, wie die Musica einen hohen und göttlichen Ursprung habe, und wie hingegen how, contrary to this, it was so distorted ”(Quedlinburg, 1707; the treatise was published posthumously).
Reception in art
The protagonist of the Hungarian film "Harmony Wackmeister" (dir. B. Tarr , 2000) György Ester in a long monologue laments about the crisis in music, about the harmony destroyed in modern music. He is convinced that the equal temperament "invented" by the Wackamaster (in fact Wrkmeister is not the inventor of a uniform temperament), and dreams of returning to the ancient primordial nature of the Pythagorean system .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 German National Library , Berlin State Library , Bavarian State Library , etc. Record # 119362406 // General Regulatory Control (GND) - 2012—2016.
- ↑ 1 2 BNF ID : 2011 open data platform .
- ↑ 1 2 SNAC - 2010.
- ↑ The title of the composition is inspired by the Werkemeister's term “to temper the clavier well”.
- ↑ This metaphor has spread in the writings of German musicians of the 18th century, and not at all in the “dark age”, contrary to current opinion.
- ↑ Preserved in non-author manuscript copy dated after 1715.
- ↑ The first edition (ca. 1687) has not been preserved.
- ↑ Gröningen is a village 10 km from Halberstadt , where in 1594 the castle of the Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg , Bishop of Halberstad Heinrich Julius was built. The organ built in 1596 for the chapel of this castle was the most famous and large-scale instrument of its time (for more details on the Gröningen organ, see the German Wikipedia]).
Publications of sources and literature
- Werckmeister A. Organum Gruningense redivivum. Mainz: Rheingold-Verlag, 1932 (reprint of the organ treatmen in Gröningen)
- Werckmeister A. Hypomnemata musica (1697). Erweiterte und verbesserte Orgel-Probe (1698), Cribrum musicum (1700), Harmonologia musica (1702), Musicalische Paradoxal-Discourse (1707). 5 Teile in einem Band. Hildesheim: Olms, 1970 (reprint of Werkmeister’s five treatises)
- Werckmeister A. Musicae mathematicae hodegus curiosus. Hildesheim: Olms, 1972. ISBN 978-3-487-04080-6
- Werckmeister's Erweiterte und verbesserte Orgel-Probe. Translated by Gerhard Krapf. - Raleigh, NC, 1976 (translation of the Trial of the Organ test into English)
- Werckmeister A. Musicalische Temperatur. Utrecht: Diapason Press, 1983 (reprint; preface by Rudolph Rush)
- Werckmeister A. Die nothwendigsten Anmerkungen und Regeln, wie der Bassus continuus oder General-Bass wol könne tractiret werden. Herausgegeben von Eitelfriedrich Thom. Blankenburg, 1985 (reprint in the “Dokumentation - Reprints” series)
- Werckmeister A. Musicalische Temperatur. Utrecht: Diapason Press, 1983 (reprint from the introductory article by Rudolf Rush); Oschersleben, 2001 (reprint with Mark Lindley's afterword)
- Werckmeister A. Collaudo dell'organo. Versione, introd., Note a cura di Francesco Tasini. Cremona, 1996 (Italian translation with commentaries on the Trial of the Organ)
- Werckmeister A. Musiktheoretische Schriften. Laaber, 2003 (reprint of "Harmonology" and "Paradoxical Reasoning")
- Dodds R. Columbus's egg. Andreas Werckmeister's teachings on contrapuntal improvisation in 'Harmonologia musica' // Journal of the Seventeenth-Century Music 12 (2006)
- Andreas Werckmeister's "Organum Gruningense Redivivum" <...> by Marcos Fernando Krieger. Ph. D. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1998 = Andreas Werckmeister's Organum Gruningense Redivivum, 1705. An English Translation and Commentary by Marcos Krieger. Saarbrücken: Vdm Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-639-19803-4 (English translation of the organ treatise in Gröningen)
- Johnny Reinhard . Bach and Tuning. [sl], 2009 (samizdat; contains a detailed analysis of Werkmeister's temperaments, examines their applicability to JS Bach’s music; the appendix contains a full translation of the Musical Temperament treatise into English, written in 1974 in a thesis by Elizabeth Heare; see review [1] )
- Zubov A.Yu. The canon-encomy of I. F. Bendeler A. Werkmeister // Technique of musical composition in the explanations of the author / Ed. L.L. Gerver. M., 2016, p. 74-82.
- Froebe F. Werckmeister. Harmonologia musica // Lexikon Schriften über Musik. Bd. 1, hrsg. v. U. Scheideler u. F. Wörner. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2017, S. 515-516.
Links
- "Test organ" (electronic facsimile of the second edition)
- "Musical Temperament" (electronic facsimile)
- “Musical Sieve” (electronic facsimile)
- "Musical Guide" (electronic facsimile)
- “Hypomnemata musica” (electronic facsimile)
- “Harmonology” (electronic facsimile)
- “Open letter about music” (electronic facsimile)
- “Paradoxical reasoning about music” (electronic facsimile)
- A treatise on the practice of the general bass (ca. 1700; electronic facsimile)
- Electronic publication of the treatise on the practice of the general bass (fragment)
- A fragment of a treatise on the practice of the general bass translated into English