Martin Vogt

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Martin Vogt

Martin Vogt (born April 3, 1781 in Kulmain in the Upper Palatinate , † April 18, 1854 in Colmar in Alsace) was an organist , cellist and composer of church music and other works. He worked in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France.

In the 19th century, magazines referred to Martin Vogt as a famous musician. For a long time after that he was only known in small specialist circles. Today interest in his work is increasing again thanks to CD recordings and music performances (organ works, masses, motets, etc.). The organist Gerd Hofstadt, who often played works by Martin Vogt in his organ concerts, characterizes the composer as follows:

“During his time, Martin Vogt was the most published composer of church music in Northern Switzerland and Alsace . [...] He was a composer who knew how to use the new style of music with skill on the organ. "

Life

Martin Vogt was born in Kulmain as the son of the teacher, organist and land manager Ambrosius Vogt. Up to the age of ten he received his musical training at home. As a ten-year-old choir boy he caused a stir with his performances in monasteries. He commented that “the arias were so popular that they almost carried me away from the choir on my hands.” Traveling to the monasteries in four-in-hand horse-drawn carriages also made an impression on the boys' choir. In his autobiography, written around 1850, Martin Vogt characterized his own musical family as follows:

“My father was not only an excellent organist, especially a fugue player, but in addition to the stringed instruments he also played all the wind instruments, especially the horn and trumpet. My mother was born Zach, the daughter of a brewer from Fichtelberg . I remember that my mother was a relative of the famous cathedral music director and counterpoint player Zach in Mainz . My father's older brother was a Benedictine in the Weissenohe monastery near Nuremberg , also an excellent musician; my father's younger brother was a secular clergyman and music director in the Jesuit seminar in Amberg , at the same time famous not only as a musician but also as a composer. "

From 1791 to 1794 Martin Vogt received varied music lessons at the Michelfeld monastery school . From 1794 to 1799 he attended the St. Paul Jesuit Seminary in Regensburg with more than a thousand students in various fields. Here he was instructed on the organ by Father Sebastian Brixi . After the main organist of this seminar left, the 15-year-old student was entrusted with the position. Even then he was considered a connoisseur of figured bass. During this time he also wrote his first compositions, pieces for voice and orchestra. During the holidays, the music students often moved from monastery to monastery and were welcome guests thanks to their musical contribution.

During the years of traveling from 1799 he took part in musical life in Austria, including in Vienna and Salzburg . In 1806 he was forced to flee from Salzburg to Switzerland to avoid the threat of being drafted into the Napoleonic army. On the trip to Switzerland he made music in many monasteries such as Ottobeuren , St. Trudpert , Einsiedeln , Muri , Mariastein and St. Urban , where he stayed for four years. In addition to the southern German, Austrian and Swiss cities, his memories also include Prague , Budapest , Venice and Padua .

It was not until 1812 that he felt free in what was then the French Arlesheim , thanks to a permanent position (without military service) as cathedral organist and school teacher. From here he traveled regularly to Basel for further music activities. There he came into contact with well-known musicians and was also visited by them in Arlesheim, for example by Fränzl and Peter von Winter in Munich, Carl Maria von Weber , Louis Spohr , Bernhard Romberg and the son of Mozart, whom he particularly admired .

From 1823 to 1837 he took over the position of music director in the Cathedral of St. Gallen and music teacher at the Catholic grammar school. In the last phase of his life from 1837 to 1854 he was cathedral organist and choirmaster in the cathedral church of St. Martin of Colmar .

Education and work (autobiography until 1820)

Arlesheim near Basel , cathedral
Arlesheim 1812–1823, cathedral organist on Silbermann organ and music activities in Basel

Martin Vogt's autobiography was written at the end of his life and describes the first half of his career from 1781 to 1821. A previous publisher gave it the title Memories of a Wandering Musician . The writing is a contemporary document of the eventful musical life from this epoch. In 1803, during the Napoleonic turmoil, all Bavarian monasteries were closed and partially destroyed. The St. Paul Jesuit Seminary in Regensburg , where he received his organ training from Father Brixi, was razed to the ground in 1809.

Vienna

In Vienna he got to know the famous cellist Joseph Franz Weigl . He was the first cellist in Prince Esterházy's orchestra , which was conducted by Joseph Haydn . Since Vogt had little money, Weigl offered him free cello lessons. In a short time Vogt had mastered this instrument so well that the two cellists performed as a duo and gave concerts. At Easter 1800 they played in Klosterneuburg and other places. Martin Vogt commented: "As a young cellist I was generally admired, with the request to come here so often."

Salzburg

From 1803 the last phase of his musical training followed in the monastery of St. Peter in Salzburg . Here Michael Haydn was orchestra conductor and at the same time Kapellmeister in the cathedral church. Martin Vogt received composition lessons from him and as a conductor. The 22-year-old musician was doing very well economically in Salzburg, as he was also employed as a cellist at the winter concerts and in the theater, where two operas were performed each week. He would have liked to stay in the city of Salzburg if he had not been forced to leave the country for military reasons in 1806. His father had forwarded the military marching orders, which had only arrived in the hometown of Kulmain , to Salzburg.

St. Urban

After many intermediate stops in southern Germany and Switzerland, a job at the St. Urban monastery school led to a four-year work stay, from 1808 to 1811. This school was the first teachers' seminar in Switzerland at the end of the 18th century and had an important musical culture. The music author Wilhelm Jerger wrote about St. Urban in the 18th century about "a once significant local music cultivation, of which little is known even in Switzerland." Also the well-known Swiss musician Xaver Schnyder von Wartensee (1786–1868), his Uncle, who visited the composer Benignus Schnyder von Wartensee (1754–1834), in the monastery of St. Urban, came to the conclusion in 1802 that “there were so many musicians among the monks that the orchestral staff necessary for mass could be filled from them”. Martin Vogt made the following remark: "Due to the many guests who always came to Sankt Urban, my compositions became known in Switzerland, and if I had wanted to satisfy all orders, I would have had to write day and night." In the last section reports on the founding of his family in St. Urban.

Arlesheim and Basel

In 1812, Martin Vogt relocated his activities to the then French Arlesheim , where he was exempt from military service. Thanks to his virtuoso organ playing, the vicar general and canon Franz Xaver von Mahler arranged the employment with the French mayor of Arlesheim. In this village with the cathedral and an organ by Johann Andreas Silbermann , he was an organist and school teacher.

His musical milieu, however, was Basel , where he took part in musical life three days a week: in the city orchestra as an employed cellist, as a private music teacher (including for the music director's daughter) and occasionally as a concert organist on the JA Silbermann organ in the Peterskirche .

In 1815 Arlesheim was assigned to Switzerland and in 1819 Martin Vogt and his family were granted citizenship of Arlesheim. This also made him a Swiss citizen. During this time, at the height of his musical career, he received serious offers to settle with his family in London or Paris. The offers were the result of his successful organ concerts in Basel and Bern. According to these accounts, the autobiography of the first half of his life ends. The eldest sons Joseph and Martin stayed in Arlesheim.

St. Gallen

St. Gallen , cathedral and former monastery district
St. Gallen 1823–1837, Vogt was cathedral organist on the Franz Frosch organ and music teacher at the Catholic grammar school

From 1823 to 1837 Martin Vogt worked in St. Gallen , as an organist in the baroque cathedral and as a music teacher at the Catholic grammar school. According to a contemporary document, he was "Professor of the art of music and elementary teaching of vocal and instrumental music". The drawing teacher Orazio Moretto , who is known for painting over the ceiling in the cathedral, was one of Vogt's teachers.

In addition to teaching in St. Gallen, Martin Vogt also trained organists from other cantons. Annerös Hulliger writes about this: “The pastor (in the canton of Bern) succeeded in enabling the young schoolmaster Peter Minnig from Latterbach in 1826 to take lessons from Martin Vogt, the St. Gallen cathedral organist at the time, so that one day the 'finished organist' would become his organ-playing Bernese colleagues could also teach the art of organ playing. "

In the 1830s, Vogt's working conditions changed as he was confronted with unexpected political and musical conflicts. While he was promoted in Basel by the music director Johann Tollmann and visited by well-known musicians and composers in Arlesheim, in St. Gallen he found himself in a different environment. In Swiss history, the 1830s are described as the time of regeneration , as a renewal of the church and state balance of power. The political dispute was mainly between conservative and liberal parties. With the election victory of the Liberals in 1833, the professors of the grammar school, to which Vogt belonged, were replaced by people from the victorious party.

In addition, he came into the sphere of influence of the Greith family, which from 1831 to 1882 had a major influence on church, educational and cultural policy in St. Gallen. Vogt received a strong opponent in the person of Carl Johann Greith , who is described in the Historical Lexicon of Switzerland 2007 as "the most intellectually outstanding bishop of Switzerland in the 19th century". Carl Johann Greith established the character of church music and ensured that his brother Franz Josef Greith in 1833 and his son Karl Greith in 1861 received the most important musicians at the cathedral and at the middle school. The Greiths campaigned for a strictly Cecilian style of music in the vocal area, for the elevation of the moral power of the text and for the revival of the old church chants. In debates they turned against the "jumble of sensuality" and against the introduction of instrumental music, which is said to have led to carelessness and unreligious sentiments. In St. Gallen the principle of "emphasis on words" had for a long time taken precedence over "emphasis on music" (autonomy of music). Under these circumstances, Martin Vogt's conception of music was no longer in demand, which led to a departure to Alsace in France.

Vogt's eldest daughter Anna Maria (1815–1873) married in Eastern Switzerland and had several children. Her husband was also involved in St. Gallen politics from the 1850s. A grandchild of Anna Maria, Dr. Josef Müller (1872–1947), also worked in the monastery district, as a long-time monastery librarian .

Colmar

In 1837 Martin Vogt took up his music activity in Colmar , the center of the well-known organ culture in Alsace at that time. He was probably informed about the latest developments during his time in St. Gallen. The former residence of Arlesheim, where part of his family still lived, also belonged to this region.

After the originally German organ building family Silbermann made a significant contribution to organ culture in Alsace in the 18th century, the French organ building family Callinet from Rouffach successfully continued this tradition in the 19th century . The French organist and music author Jean-Luc Gester reports on this: From 1837 until his death in 1854 Martin Vogt was the organist in Colmar at the Münster , whose organ was built in 1755 by Johann Andreas Silbermann (1712–1783) and in 1828 by Joseph Callinet (1795–1857) was changed and greatly enlarged. Vogt was involved in many reports and inaugurations of Callinet's new instruments. Callinet had his large organ building company in Rouffach (Rufach) just a few kilometers south of Colmar, which, according to Gester, was at the head of the organ building workshops in France. Vogt recognized the extraordinary work of these specialists. With the Callinet organ building he was able to realize his ideal of sound, whereby there was agreement between repertoire and instrument.

Colmar 1837–1854, Vogt was organist here at the Silbermann / Callinet organ, burial place in St. Martin's Minster

According to Gester, many prejudices are still widespread in relation to this era: The transition from the glamorous classical period to the subsequent period is wrongly referred to as a phenomenon of decadence, with the term “transition style”, “post-classical” or “pre-romantic” being used. While the importance of the orchestral repertoire of this period is undisputed, the organ repertoire is not perceived according to its real worth. There is also the opinion that the organ is inherently unsuitable for the gallant style, orchestral effects and melody accompaniment. In general, the musical development of this time is underestimated.

Similar to his French contemporaries, Martin Vogt moved within the Vienna School, but leaned in the direction of the orchestral. He developed a sensitivity (worthy of the pianists of that time) and successfully transferred the “scent” of a subjective sensibility to the organ. There is also a romantic side to the later part of his compositions.

During the time in Colmar a report appeared in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik from Leipzig in 1847 . The editor Franz Brendel wrote: “Germany is still terribly back with its bibliographical news about other countries; who knows z. E.g. the composer Martin Vogt, who mentioned him while all the passable virtuosos from Paris are walking through our papers, and yet Scheitlin and Zollikofer (publishing house) in St. Gallen write to all music and booksellers in Germany on August 7th of this year: 'We have taken over the distribution of church music from Martin Vogt, who is recognized as one of the first composers for church music living in France. From several of his works 3 to 4 prints have been arranged. Its new works are below '. ”A list is attached with 5 new masses, Ave Maria's, psalms, a requiem and 6 organ works.

In 1837, at the beginning of his work in Alsace, Martin Vogt described the musical situation in Colmar in a private letter as follows: “So far, I am completely satisfied with my job in Colmar, I can only relate to the musical taste of the French You can't find me, here, as in all of France, you don't want to hear anything on the organ but marches, dances and pieces from operas. Last Sunday afternoon I went to the Protestant church to hear how the organ was being treated. For the prelude, I heard the choir from the White Lady 'Sound your horns and bellies', the singing itself and the accompaniment of the organ was under all criticism. I now want to do my best to teach the Colmarn my taste for the organ. "

At the end of his successful career in Colmar, the youngest son Caspar (Gaspard Vogt 1821–1881) took over his father's position as organist. According to one of Vogt's music students from Arlesheim, who later became a teacher and organist, Anton Nebel (1804–1890), Martin Vogt's mortal shell is buried in the Colmar cathedral.

Musical work

Martin Vogt's musical work has experienced various degrees of popularity. In the 19th century he was described as a famous musician in the magazine Katholische Schweizer Blätter. He received a lower rating in 1970 when the editor of his autobiography wrote in the introduction: “The most lasting thing that Vogt has created is his own life story.” In the meantime, several CD recordings by well-known organists have been released. It is above all the recordings with Jean-Claude Zehnder from 1998 and with Jean-Luc Gester from 2004 that once again drew attention to Martin Vogt. The beginning of this revival is also thanks to Christoph Hänggi, who published detailed studies on Vogt at the University of Basel in 1988 and 1994. In the 21st century, the French publisher Les Editions Delatour France calls Vogt the “Alsatian Haydn” and advertises the inventiveness and quality of Vogt's melodies.

The musical work consists of over 300 compositions that are kept in libraries in France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. All organ compositions were published in printed form and a little more than half of the 36 masses. Since various trade fairs were ordered directly from Martin Vogt, some of them remained unpublished. As already mentioned in the St. Urban section , he said: “Due to the many guests who always came to St. Urban, my compositions were now known in Switzerland, and if I had wanted to satisfy all orders, I would have written day and night must. ”The compositions are mainly kept in Swiss monasteries such as Einsiedeln, Friborg , Solothurn , Lucerne , Disentis and Engelberg , where the largest organ in Switzerland is located. The Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris also contains compositions that probably came from Colmar. The widespread sites say something about the fame of his work in the 19th century.

In addition to the church compositions, other works were also created, such as the popular settings of most of the Alemannic poems by Johann Peter Hebel , which were printed in Karlsruhe around 1806 . He wrote about his work as a composer in Salzburg: “With the Augustinians, where Michael Haydn spent every evening with a good beer, there was a quartet singing every evening; from there it went to the tavern at St. Peter. For this society I composed a lot of three- and four-part songs, most of which were printed by Häckler in Salzburg. ”During his stay in St. Urban, he handled the direct commissions for compositions for trade fairs himself. From St. Gallen, the bookstore Scheitlin (later Scheitlin and Zollikofer) participated in the dissemination of his work in German-speaking countries. In addition to his work as an organist in Colmar, his son Caspar Vogt continued to publish his father's compositions in France.

A characteristic of Martin Vogt's music is that, despite its elitist base, it was very accessible to 19th century Catholic churchgoers. Individual organ works are more reminiscent of organ concerts or organ symphonies that are played by a single soloist. These would rather belong in the concert hall than in the service of the Church.

A compilation of the compositions can be found in the article Martin Vogt - A forgotten church musician and composer by Christoph Hänggi. There 17 of the 36 masses are listed as well as sacred chants, offertoria and other religious works. All compositions (copies) are kept in Kulmain, the birthplace of Martin Vogt. They are accessible to interested visitors.

From wandering musician to father of a family

The title of the autobiography, which was later formulated by a publisher, often gave rise to the image of an ever-wandering musician. Martin Vogt's wandering life ended around 1808. At that time he was 27 years old. The subsequent work stays lasted several years. From 1808 to 1811 he was a music teacher and organist in the St. Urban monastery school and at the same time a private music teacher in neighboring Langenthal . During his time in St. Urban he met his future wife - Anna Maria Adam - and in February 1812 they married in the village of Pfaffnau , which belongs to the same community as the monastery school.

Shortly before that, in January 1812, Martin Vogt took up the new position in Arlesheim as organist in the cathedral church and as a school teacher. During the stay in Arlesheim from 1812 to 1823, the family expanded with five sons and two daughters. As mentioned above, the youngest son Kaspar (Gaspard) also became a musician. According to Jean-Luc Gester, Gaspard Vogt was an organist and composer in Colmar. In addition, like his father, he was asked as an expert for appraisals of new organs.

52 letters from the time in Arlesheim have been preserved, which are archived in the University Library of Basel . There are reports from the years 1814 to 1818 to the former subprior Eutych Jost in St. Urban. Vogt wrote about everyday, family, musical and historical events. French army units returning from the Russian campaign were quartered several times in Arlesheim.

Sheet music editions

Apart from the autobiography up to 1820, relatively little is known about Martin Vogt's later life. The introductions to the music editions and CDs provide additional information. In the sheet music edition of Swiss organ music there is the comment: "The Munich State Library has an extensive handwritten volume of music with organ compositions by Josef Gabriel Rheinberger ."

  • Six Ave Maria for 3-part. Male choir and organ. Berliner Chormusik-Verlag / Edition Musica Rinata , Berlin.
  • Mass in G major for SATB choir and organ. Edition Musica Rinata, Berlin.
  • Mass in F major for SATB choir and organ. Edition Musica Rinata, Berlin.
  • Mass in A major for three-part SAB choir and organ. Edition Musica Rinata, Berlin.
  • Organ works in three volumes. Edition Musica Rinata, Berlin.
  • Swiss organ music - works by Martin Vogt. Publisher Müller & Schade, Bern.
  • 6 pieces d'orgue opus 45, rondeau pour l'orgue. Editions Delatour France.
  • Johann Peter Hebels Alemannic poems. Songs with piano and guitar accompaniment. Verlag Müller & Schade, Bern 2019. ( Music from the collection of the Solothurn Central Library, Issue 10)
  • Mass pastorale: à 4 or à 3 voix avec accompagnement d'orgue , Colmar approx. 1850 digitized

Sound carrier

  • Choir and organ works (2 masses and organ works). Jean-Claude Zehnder , Silbermann organ in the cathedral of Arlesheim / Martina Bovet, soprano / Thilo Hirsch, violone / cathedral choir Arlesheim / Carmen Ehinger, conductor. German accompanying text, music recording 1998, sh. France-Orgue.
  • Orgue Callinet de Sermersheim. Oeuvres de Martin Vogt 1781–1854 (organ works and motets). Jean-Luc Gester, organ / Magdalena Lukovic, soprano / Jean Moissonnier, bass. French introduction by Jean-Luc Gester, with German translation. Music recording 2004, sh. France-Orgue.
  • CDs (with works by other composers) with the organists Jean-Luc Gester, Gerhard Gnann, Eberhard Hofmann, Annerös Hulliger, Thomas Kientz and Magdalena Lukovic, Jürg Neuenschwander , Franz Raml , Klemens Schnorr , Wolfgang Sieber and Yang Jing, Jean-Claude Zehnder among others

literature

  • Martin Vogt: Memories of a Wandering Musician. (Autobiography of the first half of his life from 1781 to 1821.) The first version appeared under the title Martin Vogt in the Basler Jahrbuch 1884 digitized version of the autobiography . Further editions were published in 1904 and 1971. (The yearbook also contains an article on the concert scene in Basel in the 18th and 19th centuries.)
  • Wilhelm Jerger: The maintenance of music in the former Cistercian Abbey of St. Urban . In: Die Musikforschung, 4/1954. Bärenreiter, Kassel, p. 386. (“Once significant local music care, about which little is known even in Switzerland.” The climax of the music culture in the 18th century up to the resignation of Abbot Karl Ambros Glutz-Ruchti in 1813. Stay of Martin Vogt 1808 to 1811.)
  • Wilhelm Jerger: On the music history of German-speaking Switzerland in the 18th century. In: Die Musikforschung, 3/1961, Bärenreiter Kassel, p. 311. ("Martin Vogt was a very well-known church composer and organist in his day. In 1810 he was made an honorary member of the Swiss Music Society on the occasion of the first Swiss music festival in Lucerne .")
  • Christoph E. Hänggi: Martin Vogt - an organist and composer of the first half of the 19th century. University of Basel 1988, (Volume 1: Comparative studies on the professional position and the work ; Volume 2: List of works and locations of the compositions ).
  • Christoph E. Hänggi: Martin Vogt - a forgotten church musician and composer. In: Musik und Gottesdienst , ISSN  1015-6798 , vol. 1994, pp. 166-176.
  • Alfred Disch: Franz Josef Greith von Rapperswil 1799–1869. Rapperswil 1982. (About the musical culture in St. Gallen in the 19th century.)
  • Franz Lüthi: Organ music in the context of German classical music. In: St. Galler Orgelfreunde (Ed.): OFSG-Bulletin, 1/2006, (p. 1516: personal interpretation of the autobiography).
  • Hansjörg Gerig: The history of the organs on the west gallery in St. Gallen Cathedral from 1805 until today. In: St. Galler Orgelfreunde (Ed.): OFSG-Bulletin, 3/2008.
  • Jean-Luc Gester: Introductions to CD Sermersheim and to the 6 pièces d'orgue sheet music edition .
  • Elmar Vogt: Martin Vogt - an almost forgotten church musician and his setting of lever poems. In: Das Markgräflerland , 2019, ISSN  2567-3602 , pp. 193–199.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreas D. Becker: Market time music at noon. Delmenhorst courier. In: weser-kurier.de. February 2, 2013, accessed April 19, 2017 .
  2. ^ A b c d Martin Vogt: Memories of a wandering musician. Basel 1971.
  3. Meinrad Walter: The organ - my favorite instrument. Schwabenverlag, Ostfildern and Carus, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-7966-1146-X or ISBN 3-89948-055-4 , pp. 19-20 (competition on two organs in St. Trudpert)
  4. Catherine Bosshart-Pfluger: Mahler, Franz Xaver von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  5. a b c Georg Sütterlin: Arlesheim - The legendary local history of 1904. Arlesheim 1910 and 2006 - personal interpretation of the autobiography by Pastor Sütterlin, pp. 111–116, ( Memento from February 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) see also Der Arlesheim Cathedral ( Memento from February 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Regimental book of the XXII cantons of the Swiss Confederation. Schaffhausen 1828, p. 164 ( digitized version )
  7. Annerös Hulliger: gems Bernese organ building and music by local composers. Bern 2007, pp. 110–112.
  8. ^ Arthur Brunhart: Greith, Carl Johann. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  9. Hansjörg Gerig: The history of the organs on the west gallery in St. Gallen Cathedral from 1805 until today. In: St. Galler Orgelfreunde (Ed.): OFSG-Bulletin, 3/2008, p. 33.
  10. ^ Alfred Disch: Franz Josef Greith von Rapperswil 1799–1869. Rapperswil 1982.
  11. St. Gallen City Archives.
  12. a b c d cf. Jean-Luc Gester, French accompanying text with German translation for the Martin Vogt CD from 2004, on organ culture in Alsace.
  13. ^ Franz Brendel , miscellaneous , in: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , Leipzig, September 13, 1847 ( digitized version )
  14. (quotation in the music edition 6 pièces d'orgue )
  15. En parlant des oeuvres d'orgue de Martin Vogt, on pourrait dire qu'il fut le 'Haydn' alsacien pour la qualité et l'invention de ses mélodies.
  16. a b Christoph E. Hänggi: Martin Vogt - a forgotten church musician and composer. In: Musik und Gottesdienst , ISSN  1015-6798 , vol. 1994, pp. 166-176.

Web links

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