What is a lautenwerck?

Bach’s Suite in E minor, BWV 996 is usually played on harpsichord, lute, or even piano, but it was written for something called a “lautenwerck”. Ever wondered what that actually was?

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The lautenwerck (also spelled lautenwerk), alternatively called lute-harpsichord (lute-clavier), is a European keyboard instrument of the Baroque period. It is similar to a harpsichord, but with gut rather than metal strings, producing a mellow tone.

The instrument was favored by J. S. Bach, who owned two of the instruments at the time of his death, but no specimens from the 18th century have survived to the present day.[1] It has been revived since the 20th century by harpsichord makers Willard Martin, Keith Hill and Steven Sorli. Two of its most prominent performers are the early music specialists Gergely Sárközy and Robert Hill.

Performances by Gergely Sárközy are also freely available.[2]

The lautenwerck (also spelled lautenwerk), alternatively called lute-harpsichord (lute-clavier), is a European keyboard instrument of the Baroque period. It is similar to a harpsichord, but with gut rather than metal strings, producing a mellow tone. The instrument was favored by J. S.

O primavera

That feeling when something you were waiting for falls just a little short of your hopes? Monteverdi understands.

O spring, the youth of the year,
beautiful mother of flowers, fresh herbs, and new loves,
you indeed return but without the sweet days of my hopes.
You are simply that with was charming and lovely,
but I am not now as I once was - so dear to the eyes of another.
(Translation by Hilary Anne Walker)

Moritz, Landgraf von Hesse-Kassel

This week’s Early Music Monday post comes from Kassel, Germany! Landgrave Moritz of Hesse-Kassel was patron to Heinrich Schütz and John Dowland (among others), built the first permanent theater in Germany, and liked to stir up religious controversy.

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Maurice of Hesse-Kassel (German: Moritz) (25 May 1572 – 15 March 1632), also called Maurice the Learned,[1] was the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) in the Holy Roman Empire from 1592 to 1627.

Maurice was born in Kassel as the son of William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and of his wife Sabine of Württemberg.

Although Maurice had been raised in the Lutheran faith, he converted to Calvinism in 1605. On the principle Cuius regio eius religio, Maurice's subjects were also required to convert to Calvinism. Maurice's conversion was controversial since the Peace of Augsburg had only settled religious matters betweens Roman Catholics and Lutherans and had not considered Calvinists. Maurice tried to introduce Calvinism to the lands which he had inherited from the extinct Hesse-Marburg branch of his family. Such a change of faith was contrary to the inheritance rules, and resulted in an ongoing conflict with the Hesse-Darmstadt branch. It also brought him into conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor, Matthias.

Maurice of Hesse-Kassel ( German: Moritz) (25 May 1572 - 15 March 1632), also called Maurice the Learned, was the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) in the Holy Roman Empire from 1592 to 1627. Maurice was born in Kassel as the son of William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and of his wife Sabine of Württemberg.

Early Organs in Marburg

This week’s Early Music Monday post comes from Marburg, Germany! This organ from the early 1600s is on display in the Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte at the Landgrafenschloss (Museum for art and cultural history at the Landgrave’s Castle). Read more about this amazing instrument in the explanatory notes below!

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Alessandro Stradella

Life goals of Alessandro Stradella:
- embezzle money from church
- have affair with a student (who is also your employer’s mistress)
- become an excellent Baroque composer, so good that Handel plagiarizes your work
- be stabbed to death

Antonio Alessandro Boncompagno Stradella[1] (Bologna, 3 July 1643[1] – Genoa, 25 February 1682) was an Italian composer of the middle Baroque period. He enjoyed a dazzling career as a freelance composer, writing on commission, and collaborating with distinguished poets, producing over three hundred works in a variety of genres.[2]

Not much is known about his early life, but he was from a Tuscan aristocratic family, educated at Bologna, and was already making a name for himself as a composer at the age of 20.[3] In 1667 he moved to Rome where he composed for Christina, Queen of Sweden, mostly sacred music. He was involved in performances of four operas, two by Francesco Cavalli and two by Antonio Cesti. Stradella began to live a dissolute life. With Carlo Ambrogio Lonati he attempted to embezzle money from the Roman Catholic Church, but was found out: he fled the city, only returning much later when he thought it was safe. His numerous incautious affairs with women began to make him enemies among the powerful men of the city, and he had to leave Rome for good.[4]

In 1677 he went to Venice, where he was hired by a powerful nobleman, Alvise Contarini, as the music tutor to his mistress, Agnese Van Uffele. She and Stradella began an affair[citation needed] and fled Venice together for Turin, where they were protected by Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours, the regent of Savoy.[5] Contarini followed and instructed the Archbishop that Uffele and Stradella must marry or that Uffele must take the veil. She did the latter, and then the two married in October; however, as Stradella left the convent after signing the contract, he was attacked from behind on 10 October by two would-be hired assassins, who believed him dead when they left him in the street.[6] He was not. The two assassins took asylum with the French ambassador. That Contarini had hired the attackers became known, leading to complaints from the regent of Savoy to Louis XIV; the matter became a topic of negotiation between the courts. In 1678 Stradella fled to Genoa, where he met again with Lonati. He was paid to compose music for the local nobility and the Teatro Falconi.[2]

Antonio Alessandro Boncompagno Stradella ( Bologna, 3 July 1643 - Genoa, 25 February 1682) was an Italian composer of the middle Baroque period. He enjoyed a dazzling career as a freelance composer, writing on commission, and collaborating with distinguished poets, producing over three hundred works in a variety of genres.

BWV

Ever wonder what BWV stands for or where those numbers came from?

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The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV; lit. Bach works catalogue; German: [̍ˈbax ˈvɛrkɛ fɛrˈtsaɪçnɪs]) is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2a, was published in 1998.

BWV numbers were assigned to 1,126 compositions in the 20th century, and more have been added to the catalogue in the 21st century. The Anhang (Anh.; Annex) of the BWV lists over 200 lost, doubtful and spurious compositions.

The first edition of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis was published in 1950. It allocated a unique number to every known composition by Bach. Wolfgang Schmieder, the editor of that catalogue, grouped the compositions by genre, largely following the 19th-century Bach Gesellschaft (BG) edition for the collation (e.g. BG cantata number = BWV number of the cantata):[1]

The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis ( BWV; lit. Bach works catalogue; German: [̍ˈbax ˈvɛrkɛ fɛrˈtsaɪçnɪs]) is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV 2a, was published in 1998.