musica Dei donum
CD reviews
"Musik aus dem alten Danzig" (Music from old Danzig) ("Musik der alten Hansestädte, Vol. 2")
Europäisches Hanse-Ensemble
Dir: Manfred Cordes
rec: May 31, - June 2, 2023, Bassum, Stiftskirche
CPO - 555 647-2 (© 2024) (70'45")
Liner-notes: E/D; lyrics - translations: E/[D]
Cover, track-list & booklet
Spotify
anon:
Dulcis memoria et suavis recordatio;
Crato BÜTTNER (1616-1679):
Wo ist dein Stachel nun, o Tod? a 10;
Johann Balthasar ERBEN (1626-1686):
Domine Iesu Christe a 5;
Kaspar FÖRSTER d.J. (1616-1673):
Ad arma fideles a 3;
Sonata à 7;
Andreas HAKENBERGER (1574-1627):
Spiritus Domini a 12 [3];
Daniel JACOBI (1605-1676);
Pax aeterna a 10;
Marcin MIELCZEWSKI (c1600-1651):
Magnificat a 15;
Paul SIEFERT (1586-1666):
Fantasia 1. toni ex d;
Nu preis, mein Seel, den Herren lobesame a 7 [5];
Sonata à 8 [5];
Johann WANNING (1537-1603):
In pace in idipsum a 6 [2];
Rogate quae ad pacem sunt a 8 [2];
Christoph WERNER (c1619-1650):
Es erhub sich ein Streit a 18;
Nicolaus ZANGIUS (c1570-1619):
Surrexit Christus a 8 [4]
Sources:
[1] Danziger Orgeltabulatur, c1570;
[2] Johannes Wanning, Sacrarum cantionum quinque, sex, septem et octo vocibus compositarum, et tum vivae voci tum musicis instrumentis aptatarum, 1580;
[3] Andrzej Hakenberger, Harmonia sacra in qua motectae, 1617;
[4] Erhard Bodenschatz, ed., Florilegium Portense, continens CXV Selectissimas Cantiones 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Vocum praestantissimorum aetatis nostrae Autorum in illustri Gymnasio Portensiate, 1618;
[5] Paul Siefert, Psalmorum Davidicorum, ad gallicam melodiam … pars II, 1651
Ulrike Hofbauer, Veronika Mair, Baiba Urka, soprano;
Katelijne Malomgré, Lara Morger, contralto;
Jan van Elsacker, Christian Volkmann, tenor;
Hugo Oliveira, Premysław Bałka, bass
Frithjof Smith, Indre Kučinskaitė, cornett;
Simen Van Mechelen, Emily Saville, BJ Hernandez, sackbet;
Veronika Skuplik, Csenge Orgován, violin;
Hille Perl, Aleksandra Maglevanaia, viola da gamba;
Eva-Maria Horn, dulcian;
Susan Williams, Alexandra Mikheeva, trumpet;
Joachim Held, chitarrone;
Marcin Szelest, organ
In 2024 the German label CPO started a series of recordings devoted to music written or performed in towns that were part of the Hanseatic League. "The Hanseatic League was a medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 12th century, the League expanded between the 13th and 15th centuries and ultimately encompassed nearly 200 settlements across eight modern-day countries, ranging from Estonia in the north and east, to the Netherlands in the west, and extended inland as far as Cologne, the Prussian regions and Kraków, Poland." (Wikipedia). The first recording was devoted to Stralsund, the present disc to Danzig, today Gdańsk in Poland.
Between 1454 and 1793 Danzig was subject to the Polish kings. In 1697 Frederick Augustus I, Elector of Saxony, became King of Poland and this resulted in a personal union between Saxony and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The musical scene in Danzig was under strong German influence - like the whole Baltic region, partly due to the dissemination of Lutheranism - and this continued during the 18th century. The main figures in the music scene were all Germans, either organists or Kapellmeister. In recent years several discs with music from Danzig have been released, mostly performed by the Goldberg Baroque Ensemble under the direction of Andrzej Szadejko (MDG). Those include music from the 18th century; the disc under review here rather focuses on earlier repertoire, by composers from the second half of the 16th century and from the 17th century.
The earliest composer in the programme is Johannes Wanning. He was from the Netherlands (born in Kampen, a town about 50 kilometers northwest of Deventer, where Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was born), and studied in Königsberg, where he then sang in the ducal chapel. From 1569 to 1599 he was Kapellmeister at the Marienkirche in Danzig. He is especially notable for the fact that he was the first to write motets for all Sundays and feastdays of the ecclesiastical year, published in Venice in 1590. The two motets included here are taken from a collection of motets for five to eight voices, some with instruments, which was published in Nuremberg in 1580. In In pace in idipsum the tenor part holds the cantus firmus.
After his death, Wanning was succeeded by Nicolaus Zangius, born in Mark Brandenburg, and known first as Kapellmeister to Prince-Bishop Philipp Sigismund of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel at Iburg, near Osnabrück. He held his post in Danzig only for three years; in 1602 he left the town out of fear of a smallpox epidemic. He worked in Prague and was later active in Berlin as Kapellmeister to the Elector of Brandenburg. It is impossible to say whether the Easter motet Surrexit Christus spes mea was written in Danzig. It was included in Florilegium Portense from 1618, edited by Erhard Bodenschatz. This was the second edition of a collection of motets intended to be sung "before and after meals, according to the respective seasons, to the glory of God, in the honour of the school and for the education of young people". The 1618 edition was still in use in Bach's time in Leipzig. The motets were mostly performed by voices a capella, but here Zangius' motet is performed with instruments. It is in two choirs, and Zangius uses the cori spezzati technique to emphasize parts of the text.
Zangius returned to Danzig in 1607, but when it became clear that he was not to take up his post as Kapellmeister at the Marienkirche again, it was decided to appoint the Polish composer Andrzej Hakenberger, who at the time was in the service of the court in Warsaw. This means that he was a Catholic, but - as has been observed previously - that was not a real problem at the time. In musical matters there was no watershed between the different confessions. Hakenberger's music reflects his preference for the polychoral style from Venice. Spiritus Domini is for twelve voices in three choirs. Hakenberger held his post until his death in 1627.
Paul Siefert was also connected to the Marienkirche, but then as organist. He had studied two years with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck in Amsterdam, and after his return he became assistant to Cajus Schmiedtlein, but due to conflicts between the two Siefert moved to Prague. When Schmiedtlein died, he applied for the post of organist, but lost the competition. He moved to Königsberg and then to Warsaw. He returned to Danzig, when Schmiedtlein's successor moved to Königsberg. He was now appointed organist at the Marienkirche, but in the course of his career he became involved in conflicts with almost everyone around, especially Kaspar Förster the elder, who succeeded Hakenberger as Kapellmeister, a post for which Siefert held himself most qualified. An additional reason for the animosity between the two was that Förster was friends with Marco Scacchi, from 1633 to 1649 master of the royal chapel in Warsaw. Scacchi was a representative of the modern Italian style, which Siefert rejected. The controversy extended through writings, and the effect of this was that the it became an international affair.
Given the fact that Siefert was a pupil of Sweelinck, it won't come as a surprise that the Genevan Psalter, which Sweelinck had used for polyphonic settings, published in four books (Pseaumes de David), was also a source of inspiration for Siefert. He published his own settings in two books in 1640 and 1651 respectively. Nu preis, mein Seel, den Herren lobesame is an arrangement of Psalm 103. Despite his rejection of the Italian style, these Psalms all include a basso continuo part.
Kaspar Förster the younger was a singer and composer. Given the friendship between his father and Scacchi it is not surprising that the latter was his second teacher (after his father). Kaspar became a singer with an astonishing range of up to four octaves. He worked in Warsaw and Copenhagen, and acted as Kapellmeister at the Marienkirche from 1655 to 1657. His sonatas have become better-known than his sacred music. We get here specimens of both genres. Ad arma fideles has the traces of a battle piece, but it is not about a real but rather a spiritual battle against the enemies of the faith. It ends thus: "Spare us, kind Jesus, you do not want the death of the sinner, but that he may be converted and live." The rising figures at the start are typical for this kind of pieces; Telemann's cantata Erwachet zum Kriegen (from the Harmonischer Gottesdienst), with a comparable content, opens in about the same way.
In 1657 Förster was succeeded by Johann Balthasar Erben, who had already applied for the post when Förster the elder had died. Instead of appointing him to the post, the council decided to left it open. Apparently Erben was considered the most promising candidate, and the council awarded him a grant which gave him the possibility to travel around in Europe to broaden his musical horizon. On his travels he became acquainted with Johann Jacob Froberger. He also visited the Netherlands, England and France; in Paris he heard the music of Jean-Baptiste Lully. He then went to Italy; in Rome he may have become acquainted with Giacomo Carissimi and Athanasius Kircher. In 1657 Erben returned to Danzig, where he once again applied for the post. He held it until his death. Many of his compositions are preserved in the Düben-Sammlung at Uppsala University. Domine Iesu Christe is a solemn piece, which reflects the text: "Lord Jesus Christ,
hear my prayers and have mercy on me that I may sing to Thee: To thee be praise, to thee be glory now and forever and from everlasting to everlasting. Amen."
The last composer connected to the Marienkirche is Daniel Jacobi, who held the position of organist; unfortunately the liner-notes don't mention his period of office. Pax aeterna is a prayer for peace, written during Sweden's siege of the town from 1655-1660. It is written in concertato style and mostly homorhythmic.
Very different are two pieces by Crato Büttner and Christoph Werner respectively. With them we move away from the Marienkirche. Christoph Werner was from Saxonia; nothing is known about his musical education. He worked as Kantor at the Katharinenkirche in Danzig from 1646 to 1650. In that year he was to become vice-Kapellmeister at the court in Dresden, meaning that he would be Heinrich Schütz's substitute, but he died before he could take up that post, at the age of just 32. Es erhub sich ein Streit was one of the main texts set by composers for St Michael, usually in the stile concitato, and in large scorings, in this case for 18 voices and instruments, obviously including trumpets, cornetts and sackbuts. The piece opens with a sinfonia, then the voices sing the first line. When the instruments enter again, the opening phrase seems a quotation of the toccata from Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610. There is a good chance Werner knew that work. In the course of the piece Werner does not miss any opportunity to illustrate the text.
Büttner was from Gotha, and was Kantor at the Salvatorkirche from 1650 until the church's demolition in 1656. He then became Kantor at the Katharinenkirche. Many of his works in autograph have been destroyed during World War II; about 30 works have survived. Wo ist dein Stachel nun, o Tod is a piece for Easter, based on the well-known verses from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians (ch 15), quoted in Handel's Messiah: "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" It is scored for five voices and five instruments, among them sackbuts, and includes a passage for bass, representing the vox Christi: "Though I am dead, yet I live,
death is crushed. Whoever believes my word death will not harm him." This piece has some similarity with Werner's piece just discussed, for instance through fanfare motifs.
The programme closes with another piece by a Polish composer. There were close contacts between musicians in Danzig and at the Polish court, and this explains why music by Polish composers, such as Marcin Mielczewski, was performed in Danzig. The first documented evidence of Mielczewski's activities as a musician dates from 1632, when he was a member of the royal chapel in Warsaw. From 1645 until his death he was in the service of Karol Ferdynand Waza, bishop of Plock and brother of King Władysław IV Vasa. Mielczewski's oeuvre is of considerable size and variety. Although he wrote music in the stile antico, the modern concertato style as practised in Italy in the first half of the 17th century is dominant. Apart from sacred concertos for solo voices he composed large-scale polychoral pieces in which elements of the concertato style are incorporated through passages for solo voices. The Magnificat, which part of the repertoire of the Johanneskirche, is an example. It is for fifteen voices.
Some of the composers included here were organists. In Danzig, like in most German towns, the post of organist was a prestigious one. Organ music from Danzig has been recorded elsewhere; this series of discs focuses on vocal music. Even so, here two pieces of organ music document the importance of this genre. As mentioned, Paul Siefert was a pupil of Sweelinck. Unfortunately few organ works of his pen have been preserved; one of them is the Fantasia 1. toni ex d. The anonymous piece is from a tablature, known as the Tabulatur Danzig from c1570. Dulcis memoria et suavis recordatio is the intabulation of a sacred version of the chanson Doulce mémoire by Pierre Sandrin.
When I reviewed the first volume in this series, I was impressed by the quality of singing and playing. The level of performing is the same here. The ensemble is a mixture of experienced performers and young musicians who have taken part in the projects of this ensemble under the direction of Manfred Cordes. The results are entirely idiomatic interpretations, in which the character of each piece is perfectly conveyed. All these pieces aimed at communicating the message to the audience, and that is exactly what these performances achieve. They give a very good impression of the variety and richness of sacred music in one of the most important towns of the Hanseatic League.
Johan van Veen (© 2025)
Relevant links:
Europäisches Hanse-Ensemble