All Topics  
Matthias Weckmann

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Matthias Weckmann
 
 
  Topics Matthias Weckmann Topic Home

Matthias Weckmann (Weckman) (probably 1616 - February 24, 1674) was a North German musician and composer of the Baroque
Baroque music

Baroque music describes a period or style of European classical music approximately extending from Dates of classical music eras. This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance music and was followed by the Classical music era....
 period. He was born in Niederdorla
Niederdorla

Niederdorla is a Municipalities in Germany in the Unstrut-Hainich Districts of Germany of Thuringia, Germany. It is the geographical center of Germany....
 (Thuringia
Thuringia

The Free State of Thuringia is located in central Germany. It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen States of Germany ....
) and died in Hamburg
Hamburg

Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany , and is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits. The city is home to approximately 1.8 million people, while the Hamburg metropolitan area has more than 4.3 million inhabitants....
.

musical training took place in Dresden
Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Germany Federal Free state of Saxony. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon triangle metropolitan area....
 (as a chorister at the Saxon Court, under the direction of Heinrich Schütz
Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Sch?tz was a German composer and organ , generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi....
), then in Hamburg where he worked with the famous organist Jacob Praetorius
Jacob Praetorius

Jacob Praetorius , was a German people Baroque composer and organist, and the son of Hieronymus Praetorius. His grandfather, the father of Hieronymus, was also named Jacob Praetorius , and was also a composer....
 at the Saint Peter's church
Saint Peter

Saint Peter was a leader of the early Christianity church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles....
 (Petrikirche).

He was introduced to the Italian concertato
Concertato

Concertato is a term in early Baroque music referring to either a genre or a style of music in which groups of instruments or voices share a melody, usually in alternation, and almost always over a basso continuo....
, polychoral
Venetian polychoral style

The Venetian polychoral style was a type of music of the late Renaissance music and early Baroque music eras which involved spatially separate choirs singing in alternation....
 and monodic
Monody

In poetry, the term monody has become specialized to refer to a poem in which one person laments another's death. In music, monody has two meanings: 1) it is sometimes used as a synonym for monophony, a single solo line, in opposition to homophony and polyphony; and 2) in music history, it is a solo vocal style distinguished by hav...
 styles — because Schütz had journeyed in Italy when a young man and he had met Giovanni Gabrieli
Giovanni Gabrieli

Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organ . He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School, at the time of the shift from Renaissance music to Baroque music idioms....
 and Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi , was an Italian composer, viol, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the music of the Renaissance music to that of the Baroque music....
 — as well as the style of Sweelinck's
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was a Netherlands composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance music and beginning of the Baroque music eras....
 pupils, some of whom had settled in Hamburg.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Matthias Weckmann'
Start a new discussion about 'Matthias Weckmann'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Matthias Weckmann (Weckman) (probably 1616 - February 24, 1674) was a North German musician and composer of the Baroque
Baroque music

Baroque music describes a period or style of European classical music approximately extending from Dates of classical music eras. This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance music and was followed by the Classical music era....
 period. He was born in Niederdorla
Niederdorla

Niederdorla is a Municipalities in Germany in the Unstrut-Hainich Districts of Germany of Thuringia, Germany. It is the geographical center of Germany....
 (Thuringia
Thuringia

The Free State of Thuringia is located in central Germany. It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen States of Germany ....
) and died in Hamburg
Hamburg

Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany , and is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits. The city is home to approximately 1.8 million people, while the Hamburg metropolitan area has more than 4.3 million inhabitants....
.

Life

His musical training took place in Dresden
Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Germany Federal Free state of Saxony. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon triangle metropolitan area....
 (as a chorister at the Saxon Court, under the direction of Heinrich Schütz
Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Sch?tz was a German composer and organ , generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi....
), then in Hamburg where he worked with the famous organist Jacob Praetorius
Jacob Praetorius

Jacob Praetorius , was a German people Baroque composer and organist, and the son of Hieronymus Praetorius. His grandfather, the father of Hieronymus, was also named Jacob Praetorius , and was also a composer....
 at the Saint Peter's church
Saint Peter

Saint Peter was a leader of the early Christianity church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles....
 (Petrikirche).

He was introduced to the Italian concertato
Concertato

Concertato is a term in early Baroque music referring to either a genre or a style of music in which groups of instruments or voices share a melody, usually in alternation, and almost always over a basso continuo....
, polychoral
Venetian polychoral style

The Venetian polychoral style was a type of music of the late Renaissance music and early Baroque music eras which involved spatially separate choirs singing in alternation....
 and monodic
Monody

In poetry, the term monody has become specialized to refer to a poem in which one person laments another's death. In music, monody has two meanings: 1) it is sometimes used as a synonym for monophony, a single solo line, in opposition to homophony and polyphony; and 2) in music history, it is a solo vocal style distinguished by hav...
 styles — because Schütz had journeyed in Italy when a young man and he had met Giovanni Gabrieli
Giovanni Gabrieli

Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organ . He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School, at the time of the shift from Renaissance music to Baroque music idioms....
 and Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi , was an Italian composer, viol, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the music of the Renaissance music to that of the Baroque music....
 — as well as the style of Sweelinck's
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was a Netherlands composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance music and beginning of the Baroque music eras....
 pupils, some of whom had settled in Hamburg. Weckmann travelled to Denmark
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
 in 1637 with Schütz, became organist in Dresden at the Electoral Court of Saxony from 1638 to 1642, and returned to Denmark until 1647 (during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe....
).

During a new (and his last) stay in Dresden from 1649 to 1655, he met Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger

Johann Jakob Froberger was a German people Baroque composer, Keyboard instrument virtuoso, and organist. He was among the most famous composers of the era and influenced practically every major composer in Europe by developing the genre of keyboard suite and contributing greatly to the exchange of musical traditions through his many travels....
 during a musical competition which had been organized by the Elector. They remained friends and in correspondence with each other. In 1655, after a competition, he was named titular organist at Saint James
Saint James

Saint James can refer to the following:...
 church (Jakobkirche) in Hamburg, and spent his remaining life there. He founded a renowned orchestral ensemble
Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who perform instrumental or vocal music. In each musical style different norms have developed for the sizes and composition of different ensembles, and for the repertoire of songs or musical works that these ensembles perform....
, the so-called Collegium Musicum
Collegium Musicum

The Collegium Musicum was one of several types of musical societies that arose in Germany and German-Switzerland cities and towns during the Protestant Reformation and thrived into the mid-18th century....
 in Hamburg. This was the most productive period of his life: his compositions of this time include a collection of 1663, which set sacred texts mentioning the terrible plague which killed many of his colleagues in Hamburg that year, including Heinrich Scheidemann
Heinrich Scheidemann

Heinrich Scheidemann was a Germany organ and composer. He was the best-known composer for the organ in north Germany in the early to mid-17th century, and was an important forerunner of Dieterich Buxtehude and Johann Sebastian Bach....
.

Works

Weckmann composed, for the organ
Organ (music)

The organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard played either Manual or Pedal clavier. The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the European classical music....
, choral variations and preludes
Chorale prelude

In music, a chorale prelude is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque music era and reached its culmination in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, who wrote 46 examples of the form in his Orgelb?chlein....
, for the harpsichord
Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when each Key is pressed....
, pieces that mix Italian and French influences, various sonatas for three or four instruments as well as orchestral and vocal sacred music. Stylistically, he mostly followed the progressive tendencies of Schütz, including the concertato
Concertato

Concertato is a term in early Baroque music referring to either a genre or a style of music in which groups of instruments or voices share a melody, usually in alternation, and almost always over a basso continuo....
 idiom and the trend to increasing chromaticism
Chromaticism

In music, chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale....
 and contrapuntal
Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more Register that are independent in contour and rhythm, and interdependent in harmony....
 and motivic complexity; in this regard he went against the prevailing trends of the time towards simplification, much of which can be seen in Schütz's later music. Weckmann is a good example of a composer whose works would have been completely lost to history, had it not been for the 19th century interest in researching the predecessors of J.S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organ whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque music period and brought it to its ultimate maturity....
.