#northgermanorganschool

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Dieterich Buxtehude’s Prelude in D Minor. 

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An extract from Samuel Scheidt’s organ works, Alamanda Bruynsmedelijn. 

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685- 1750) Sonata nach Reincken “Hortus Musicus” BWV 965. 

The theme from this work comes from Jan Adam Reincken’s Hortus Musicus series, a marvellous work featuring many innovative melodic and harmonic techniques. 

Like many other composers, Bach would transcribe the works of existing composers and use them as a template of study in counterpoint, fugue, harmony, etc. Fortunately, scholars have been able to identify the original composer, as there were no copyright laws at the time. Telemann was one of the few composers able to maintain intellectual control over his work. 

One of the most appealing parts of Bach’s complex character was his generosity and homage to his predecessors. Jan Adam Reincken was a friend of another great composer Bach admired, Dieterich Buxtehude, whom he visited in Lübeck. Apparently, Bach improvised a fantasia on the chorale An Wasserflüssen Babylon before Reincken, who reportedly said, "I thought that this art was dead, but I see that it lives in you." 

Whatever the case, we know Bach met Reincken in Hamburg, and his masterful adaptation of Hortus Musicus weaves in the original themes with daring new counterpoint and harmony. It culminates in a marvellous Gigue which summarises all the musical ideas thus far acquired, and includes energetic left hand parts. This once again showcases Bach’s requirement for both hands to play equal parts in music, leading the Baroque away from sedate accompaniment. 

As proof of the great North German organ tradition, it is worth nothing that Reincken was not only a friend of Buxtehude, but a pupil of Heinrich Scheidemann (1595- 1663), whose own organ works include dissonant harmonies that predate Bach. Scheidemann himself was a pupil of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562- 1621). 

These are the fathers of German organ tradition (though some were from The Netherlands and further afield) and Bach would have studied their work intensively throughout his life. No doubt he played and improvised upon them, too. If you want to succeed at anything, learn from the best. Strange as it may seem to us, when it came to organ music in Bach’s day, nobody was better than Buxtehude, Reincken, etc. 

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Franz Tunder’s marvellous Christ Lag in Todesbanden. What he and other North German organists managed to achieve was the flowing of a minor key which ended seamlessly on a major chord. I hear this also in Buxtehude’s Ach Gott und Herr. These men of the North German organ school deserve far more recognition than they receive today. 

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My favourite piece by Georg Böhm, which I had for years ascribed to Buxtehude, Vater unser in Himmelreich. 

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Enjoyed listening to the great Georg Böhm this afternoon. Böhm was one of the most famous proponents of the North German Organ School and wielded an enormous influence on composers such as Buxtehude, and later, Bach. Here is his Praeludium in C. 

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Heinrich Scheidemann, Magnificat VI. Toni. 

Scheidemann, 1595- 1663, was a student of Jan PIeterszoon Sweelinck, and developed a greater range of expression and technique on the organ. His influence extends down to none other than Johann Sebastian Bach. 

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Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck’s brilliant Fantasia Cromatica-- a whole century before Bach!