Arnolt Schlick
Arnolt Schlick (also Arnold ; * before 1460 probably in Heidelberg , † after 1521 probably there) was an organist , composer and organ expert . He wrote the first treatise on the construction, tuning and playing of organs . Schlick was blind , but presumably not from birth.
Life
The first evidence of Schlick's life is a marriage certificate, probably drawn up in 1482. In 1486 he played in the coronation of Maximilian I in Frankfurt , was often to be found at various European courts and possibly also involved in the coronation of Charles I as an organist in 1520, whereby his description of the event leaves some ambiguity open. From at least 1509 he was employed as organist for life at the Palatinate Court in Heidelberg. The testimony of his son Arnolt Schlick d. J. serve that he had played “vil iar before keyers and kings elector princes clergy and secular also other gentlemen” (preface ofTablatures ).
Schlick was a sought-after organ expert and approved, among other things, the organs in the Speyer Cathedral , the Strasbourg Cathedral and the Neustadt an der Weinstrasse collegiate church (1516).
Schlick's circle of friends included Paul Hofhaimer and Sebastian Virdung .
In 1521 Schlick sent his own compositions to Bernhard von Cles , Prince-Bishop of Trient (later Cardinal), after which nothing is known about him.
Services
In 1511 Schlick published Der Spiegel der Organmacher und Organisten . In this work, on 59 pages, he deals with aspects of organ construction (e.g. scale length , pipe material , bellows , windchest , installation location) and the time and type of tuning of organs, whereby he does not describe the mean- tone tuning usual at the time , but a practice-oriented, unevenly floating one Suggests mood, similar to the moods of Andreas Werckmeister 170 years later. One copy of the long-lost booklet was only found around 1860, a second in 1952.
The compositions by Schlick that have been preserved show musical and formal originality, including a ten-part organ piece and canons with contrapuntal voices entering at the same time .
Works
- Mirror of the organ makers and organists, all monasteries and churches, so keep organs or have them made, highly useful , Speyer 1511; Facsimile with translation into modern German published by Paul Smets, Mainz 1959; Copy true to the text (with facsimile title page) by W. Bethge junior: Arnolt Schlick's Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten 1511 , in: Monatshefte für Musik-Geschichte , 1869, pp. 77–114 Bayerische Staatsbibliothek digital
- Tablatures quite a few praises vnd lidlein vff the organs vn lauten , Mainz 1512
- 8 verses on Gaude dei genitrix , 1 Bicinium Ascendo ad patrem meum and a ten-part Ascendo ad patrem meum , Trient, Archivio di Stato, Sezione tedesca No. 105; Modern edition in Hommage à l'Empereur Charles-Quint , published by MS Kastner, Barcelona 1954
literature
- Robert Eitner : Schlick, Arnolt . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 31, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, p. 491 f.
- Bernhold Schmid : Schlick, Arnolt. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , p. 76 f. ( Digitized version ).
Web links
- Works by and about Arnolt Schlick in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ^ Douglas E. Bush and Richard Kassel: The Organ: An Encyclopedia , Taylor & Francis Group, New York, 2006, ISBN 9780415941747 , page 495; Scan from the source
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schlick, Arnolt |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Schlick, Arnold |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German organist, composer and organ expert |
| DATE OF BIRTH | before 1460 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | uncertain: Heidelberg |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 1521 |
| Place of death | uncertain: Heidelberg |