Johann Heugel (composer)

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Johann Heugel , also Johannes, Joan, Hans; Heugel, Högel, Hegel, Heugelius (* approx. 1510 probably in Wetter near Marburg ; † in the winter of 1584/85 probably in Kassel ), was a trumpeter , composer , court conductor and construction clerk in Hesse (under Landgrave Philipp ) and after the division of Hesse into Hessen-Kassel (under Wilhelm IV. ).

Life

Johann Heugel was born around 1510. His place of birth is probably Wetter in the Marburg / Lahn district, but there are no reliable sources so far; Kassel could also be considered the place of birth. Nothing is known about Heugel's childhood and youth. It is evident that he had a good education. Heugel wrote many of his lyrics in Latin himself. Presumably he studied in southern Germany or in Switzerland; this is evident from the watermarks of the paper types in the part books, which he began to write in the early 1530s, before he went to the Hessian court in 1536 at the latest.

Johann Heugel among the "Kapellensenger" at the funeral procession of Philip I in April 1567

From then on, his place of residence remained the city of Kassel, apart from the journeys and campaigns of his employers, Landgraves Philip I and Wilhelm IV , who had to accompany the Heugel. In doing so, he surely got to know the field preacher and writer Burkhard Waldis , whose German adaptation of the psalms of the Old Testament was set to music by the Kapellmeister in four to five-part movements into old age.

There were frequent changes of stay between the residences in Kassel and Marburg , but trips to Heidelberg are also documented. In 1553 Heugel's wife Margarita gave birth to their son Johann , whom the composer provided with a good education. Since then, at the latest, he has also been working as a construction clerk for the city of Kassel (the fee of 40 guilders that the musician had previously received as a trumpeter was canceled for unknown reasons). So Heugel documented construction activities and paid off the craftsmen. However, he was not only on the road for the city in this activity, but also z. B. from 1559 also for the Landgraves Philipp and Wilhelm IV .: During the renovation of the Kassel City Palace he was one of the top three directors. Presumably he was already in charge of construction in 1538 for a new school building in the Kassel "Freiheit".

During one of the stays in Marburg, Johann Heugel left his nine-year-old son to the scholar Justus Vultejus , a good friend of his father, for training and education. Vultejus came from Wetter, and the composer Heugel dedicated a composition to him in gratitude for his concern for his son. The Heugel died in old age in Kassel (?) In early 1585. The son died in 1601 as a senior magistrate on Rheinfels near St. Goar, his mother Margarita Heugel survived him by 11 years.

In 1605 the Heugels are named in the register of houses in the city of Kassel as the owners of two houses. The first, a narrow two-story house in Mittelgasse, belonged to the composer's widow. The larger one was at Sack 4 at the corner of Steinweg; The widow Johann Heugels junior, Anna, the daughter-in-law of the master, is named as the owner. Both houses were destroyed in 1943. It can be assumed that Johann Heugel sen. initially lived in the larger house with his wife and children, as the family also had to accommodate and feed the chapel boys. The band consisted of six adult men and four to six boys who were used as sopranos or altos. A few instrumentalists were added if necessary.

Work and meaning

Johann Heugel is the earliest Hessian composer whose works have been left in writing. He brought the Kassel court orchestra, which experienced its first heyday under his direction, to catch up with European standards. It was the forerunner of today's Kassel State Orchestra. There are around four to five hundred secular and sacred compositions, almost exclusively vocal works, from the three to five-part motet through eight to ten-part double choirs to a 12-part "Te Deum", which are kept in the part books written by Heugel himself in the manuscript department of the Murhard Library and State Library of Kassel - today the University Library of Kassel  . The number of works alone is remarkable. Only a few composers of this time left behind a more extensive oeuvre. Unfortunately, some of the part books were lost before World War II . Another is considered a war loss. Apart from the value that Heugel's own compositions represent, the part books contain works by the most important composers of his time.

Page from a part book of Heugel with the tenor part of "Consolamini"

During his lifetime, Heugel was a famous man in Western Europe. A contemporary poem by a master's degree from Wittenberg names him fifth among the composers who have become famous through sacred music, ahead of Isaak and Stoltzer. However, Heugel was forgotten after his death because at the end of the 16th century the Flemish style of music, the imitative- contrapuntal compositional style, called “Prima pratica”, replaced a largely homophonic and catchy style, the “Seconda pratica”, which was influenced by Italian folk music has been. This is what the scientists working on Heugel assume in agreement. That alone cannot be the reason, however, because it can be stated that no clear dividing line can be drawn between the two directions and that Heugel also used homophonic ways of composing very early on. As early as 1539, he wrote the 8-part double choir Consolamini, predominantly homophonic and with the use of the later popular echo effects, which it was long assumed that Heinrich Schütz brought with him from Italy. The fact that Heugel did not try very hard to publish his works during his lifetime may also have contributed to this, and in particular the fact that his melodies often seem to be written more for instruments than for vocals - similar to Bach's later work, in which one can also notice a very instrumental melody in the vocal parts. So at first glance they appear very brittle and bulky and are difficult to sing. Heugel's focus, however, remained on the Flemish style, the polyphonic, imitative counterpoint, especially in his sacred works. At the beginning of the 20th century, the musicologist Wilibald Nagel wrote a devastating verdict on Heugel: “But he had no talent beyond a respectable average.” It was only from the middle of the 20th century that this verdict was questioned: it was regrettable that “with such unqualified statements as they were previously made about Heugel could not be cleared up. Heugel's underestimation has many reasons. The most important is probably that the researchers did not know Heugel's work from making music or sounding, but only from the autograph notes. […] But a number of unjustly forgotten composers of the 16th and 17th centuries suffer from this illness caused by the hasty judgment of some musicologists, who, unfortunately, all too positivist musicology have quickly branded 'minor masters' ”wrote Konrad Ruhland . Some of the court orchestra's works were performed for the first time in over 400 years in 2012 by the choirs con forza Kreuzberg and Echo 36 and the saxophone ensemble Kunst der Pause under the direction of Horst Zimmermann. And in 2013, due to Zimmermann's initiative, the city of Kassel remembered the composer and honored him by naming a path. This runs on the bastions of the former city palace from Steinweg to Rondell (a remnant of the medieval fortifications of the city), where Johann Heugel went in and out.

The Johann-Heugel-Weg, inaugurated with a ceremony on August 30, 2013, is a late honor of the city for the composer.

Catalog raisonné

Combined directory according to Brennecke. Detailed lists from Cramer and Gottwald.

I. Works in collective manuscripts in Kassel (University Library, State Library and Murhard Library Kassel, UBLMB)

  • Sign. Ms. 4 ° Mus. 24; 106 psalm motets, 16 of them by Heugel, 4 and 5 voices, dating from September 1537 to April 1550. Concordances (ie matching editions / manuscripts) in Ott 1537, Petreius 1538, 1542, Kriesstein 1545, Montanus 1553 and handwritten in Dresden, Heidelberg, Zwickau, Kassel; 1 voice book is missing.
  • Sign. Ms. 4 ° Mus. 38; 60 motets, 29 of them by Heugel, 7 to 12 voices, dating from July 1535 to January 1566, 2 motets on the wedding of Count Palatine Frederick II (1535), 1 on the death of Sebastian Noutzenus (1536), 4 on the wedding of Landgrave Wilhelm IV. (1566), handwritten concordances in Heidelberg and Kassel.
  • Sign. Ms. 4 ° Mus. 91; 59 motets, 16 by Heugel, 5 and 6 voices, dating from April 1544 to December 1571, 1 New Year's congratulations for Landgrave Philipp and Wilhelm IV. (1566), 2 for Wilhelm IV. (1572), 1 motet on the Philip's death (1567). Sign. Ms. 4 ° Mus. 143; 15 motets, 4 (5) by Heugel, 8 voices, dating 1566, 3 motets for the wedding of Wilhelm IV (1566), 1 for the master’s doctorate by Heugel’s son, handwritten. Concordances in Kassel.
  • Sign. Ms. 8 ° Mus. 53b, 73 different pieces, 6 by Heugel, probably 3 voices, dating from Febr. 1534 to Oct. 1546, handwritten. Concordances in Heilbronn and Heidelberg; a loose sheet of a lost Heugel manuscript (T. 1 and 2), 2 German songs, dating Jan. 1540.

II. Individual manuscripts in Kassel (UBLMB)

  • Sign. Ms. 4 ° Mus. 9; 23 Magnificat settings (not all surely by Heugel), 22 4-part, one 5-part, individual movements also 6- and 8-part
  • Sign. Ms. 4 ° Mus. 43; 60 different pieces, 55 by Heugel, 4 voices, dating from March 1534 to December 1570, 2 motets on Zwingli's death (approx. 1532/33), 1 for Antonius Turler (1541), 1 for the capture of Duke Heinrich the Elder. J. von Braunschweig (1545), 1 on Tilman von Günderode (1546), 1 on Luther's death (?; 1547), handwritten. Concordances in Heidelberg and Kassel.
  • Sign. Ms. 4 ° Mus. 94; 156 German psalms (Burkard Waldis) by Heugel, mostly 4 voices, 15 are 5 voices, dating from February 1562 to December 1565. (Edition by H. Zimmermann in preparation)
  • Sign. Ms. 4 ° Mus. 118; 88 motets by Heugel, 5 to 9 voices, dating from February 1534 to March 1577, 1 motet each on the death of Thomas Sporer (1534) and Balthasar Arthopius (1535), 3 on the wedding of Count Palatine Friedrich II (1535 ), 2 on the victorious Turkish campaign of Frederick II (1541), 1 each on the wedding of Johannes Acesta (1546) and Elector Ludwig VI. von der Pfalz (1560), 1 on the death of Johannes Frisius (1563), 1 for Justus Vultejus (1563), 1 each for master's degree from Johannes Kotzenberger and Gerhard Wallenberger (1565), concordances with Ulhard 1545, handwritten. in Heidelberg and Kassel.
  • Sign. Ms. 4 ° Mus. 142; 11 motets by Heugel, 4- and 5-part, dating from December 1540 to May 1550, handwritten. Concordances (matching editions) in Kassel. 116
  • Sign. Ms. 8 ° Mus. 4; 22 motets by Heugel, 4 and 5 voices, dating from October 1534 to January 1536, concordances from Petreius 1538, Montanus 1553, handwritten. in Heidelberg and Kassel.
  • Sign. Ms. 8 ° Mus. 53 a, 61 German spiritual songs, probably 4 and 5 voices, dating June 1534, handwritten. Concordances in Dresden.

III. Works in manuscripts outside Kassel

  • Brussels, Bibl. Du Cons., Sign. Ms. XY 15.030 (handwritten score by Moritz Hauptmann, surely based on a lost Kassel manuscript), 2 spiritual and 4 secular. German songs by Heugel. The Heidelberg Kapellinventar mentions three lost composers. Heugels, Confitebimur tibi, Domine 4-part, Historia de confessoribus 4-part, 2 compositions.

IV. Works in prints (except for the concordances mentioned above):

  • 2 German songs 4 voices in Egenolff, Gassenhawerlin and Reutterliedlin , 1535, mentioned in Heidelberg; 4 motets 2 to 8 voices, from Kriesstein, Selectæ cantiones, 1540, also from Stephani, Suavissimæ et iucundissimæ harmoniæ I, 1567, handwritten. Munich, near Rhau, Bicinia II, 1540; 2 German spiritual songs 4 and 6 voices by Kriesstein, Concentus novus, 1540; 1 motet in honor of a Protestant town by Ulhard, Concentus, 1545; 3 odes and 1 motet in Egenolff, Geminæ and eviginti odarum, 1551, the latter also in N. Roggius, Musica practica, 1566. In the Kassel copy of Novum et insigne opus musicum by Ott, 1537, is no. 51, In illo tempore litigabant iudæi, 4 voices, attributed to Heugel.

The following Kassel signatures are unfortunately missing part books: Ms. 4 ° Mus. 24; Ms. 4 ° Mus. 38; Ms. 4 ° Mus. 91; Ms. 4 ° Mus. 143; Ms. 8 ° Mus. 53 a and b; Ms. 4 ° Mus. 118; Ms. 4 ° Mus. 142; Ms. 8 ° Mus. 4; at Ms. 4 ° Mus. 94 the tenor is not entirely complete.

literature

  • 500 years of orchestral culture in Kassel 1502–2002 with contributions by Hartmut Broszinski a. a. Euregio Verlag, Kassel 2001, ISBN 3-933617-10-3 .
  • Susanne Cramer: Johannes Heugel (approx. 1510–1584 / 85). Studies on his Latin motets (= Cologne Contributions to Music Research Volume 183). Bärenreiter, Kassel 1994, ISBN 3-7649-2617-1 (Zugl .: Köln, Univ., Diss.).
  • Wilfried Brennecke:  Heugel, Johannes. In: Friedrich Blume (Hrsg.): The music in past and present (MGG). First edition, Volume 6 (Head - Jenny). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 1957, DNB 550439609 , Sp. 338–346
  • Robert Eitner:  Heugel, Hans . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 325.
  • Clytus Gottwald : The manuscripts of the comprehensive university library Kassel, Volume 6: Manuscripta musica . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1997, ISBN 3-447-03775-X .
  • Lothar Hoffmann inheritance law:  Heugel, Johannes. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , p. 41 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Julius Knierim: The Heugel manuscripts of the Kassel state library. Phil. Diss. Berlin 1943.
  • Wilibald Nagel : Johann Heugel (approx. 1500–1585) . In: Max Seiffert (Ed.): Anthologies of the International Music Society , 7th year. Leipzig 1905-1906, pp. 80-110 ( JSTOR 929143 , Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  • Wilibald Nagel: The court composer Johann Heugel . In: Philip the Magnanimous; ed. from the Historical Association for the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Marburg 1904, pp. 353-390.
  • Gerhard Pietzsch: Sources and researches on the history of music at the Palatinate court in Heidelberg up to 1622. Steiner, Wiesbaden 1963, p. 167 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  • Konrad Ruhland: Johannes Heugel around 1500–1585, a musician from Deggendorf. In: Deggendorfer Geschichtsblätter , 1981, pp. 5–32, geschichtsverein-deggendorf.de (PDF; 4.48 MB).
  • Thomas Schmidt-Beste:  Heugel, Johannes. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 8 (Gribenski - Hilverding). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2002, ISBN 3-7618-1118-7 , Sp. 1493–1500 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  • Burkhard Waldis: The Psalter, brought into a new way of singing and artificial rhymes […] . Frankfurt 1553, urn : nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb00086159-8 .
  • Horst Zimmermann (Ed.): Johann Heugel, Consolamini popule meus for 8-part mixed choir a cappella . With a foreword by the publisher PAN, Kassel 2014, ISMN 979-0-50216-501-7 (search in the DNB portal) .
  • Horst Zimmermann: The forgotten Hans; Kapellmeister, composer, trumpeter and construction clerk at Cassel: Johann Heugel (approx. 1510–1585) . Pro Business, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-86460-320-4 .
  • Horst Zimmermann (Ed.): Johann Heugel: Waldis Psalter . Volume 1. Books on Demand , Norderstedt 2018, ISBN 978-3-7528-2836-8 .
  • Horst Zimmermann: Hessen and Zurich 1545 - A composition by the Kassel court conductor Johann Heugel in the mirror of its time . In: Forum Kirchenmusik , March 2019.
  • Ernst Zulauf: Contributions to the history of the Landgravial Hessian court orchestra at Cassel up to the time of Moritz the Scholar. In: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies , New Volume 26th Volume, Kassel, 1903, pp. 1–144, here pp. 15–26 ( limited preview in the Google book search).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Deggendorf / Bavaria as the place of birth - as Willibald Nagel suspects - is unlikely, cf. Cramer p. 7 f.
  2. ↑ Horst Zimmermann: The forgotten Hans , p. 40 ff.
  3. ↑ Cramer, p. 13.
  4. ↑ Horst Zimmermann: The forgotten Hans , p. 48 and 80 f.
  5. ^ The first name of the widow Heugel could be documented by an entry in the church register in the old town of Kassel. The "NDB" and "Heugel, Johannes". Hessian biography. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). also give the name and occupation of Heugel's alleged parents in Deggendorf, but without naming sources.
  6. ↑ 500 years of orchestral culture in Kassel , p. 12
  7. ↑ Zimmermann: The forgotten Hans , p. 75 ff.
  8. ^ Edited by Horst Zimmermann in Pan Verlag, Basel / Kassel; ISMN 979-0-50216-501-7 (search in DNB portal)
  9. ^ Wilibald Nagel: Johann Heugel (approx. 1500–1585) . In: Max Seiffert (Ed.): Anthologies of the International Music Society , 7th year. Leipzig 1905–1906, p. 80.
  10. ↑ Ruhland, p. 9 f.
  11. ↑ Source: Archive of the choir con forza Kreuzberg , Berlin www.conforza.de .
  12. ↑ Wilfried Brenecke. In: MGG , s. Bibliography
personal data
SURNAME Heugel, Johann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heugelius, Johannes; Hegel, Joan; Högel, Hans; Heugel, Hans; Heugel, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hessian composer and court conductor
DATE OF BIRTH around 1510
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: weather near Marburg
DATE OF DEATH 1584 or 1585
Place of death uncertain: Kassel