Samuel Scheidt

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Samuel Scheidt, copper engraving (1624)

Samuel Scheidt (baptized 4th November July / 14th November  1587 greg. In Halle (Saale) ; † 24 March July / 3 April  1654 greg. Ibid) was a German organist and composer.

Life

After his first artistic training, Scheidt became an auxiliary organist at the Moritzkirche in Halle (Saale) in 1603. By protection he was a student of the famous Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck in Amsterdam from 1607 to 1609 .

After his return in 1609, the administrator of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, Margrave Christian Wilhelm von Brandenburg , appointed him to Halle as court organist. Scheidt worked there from 1614 to 1616 with Michael Praetorius , who was originally Kapellmeister at the court in Halle the following year.

His knowledge of organ building, which must have made him famous early on, led him to Eisleben in 1618 and, together with Michael Praetorius, Heinrich Schütz and Johann Staden, to an organ inspection in Bayreuth in 1619 . The alleged collaboration with Schütz and Praetorius in Magdeburg (“setting up a concert music” or similar), which has been mentioned so far, is based on an error in research.

In 1624 Scheidt wrote his Tabulatura nova . This collection of works for keyboard instruments (organ, harpsichord, clavichord) represents the first keyboard music printing in Germany in which the score notation (combination of five-line systems) was used.

As early as 1620 he had published the large vocal collection of the Cantiones sacrae , which was followed by the Concertus sacri in 1621 . The instrumental collections of the so-called Ludi musici followed in 1621, 1622, 1625 and 1627 .

At the age of 40 Scheidt married Helena Magdalena Keller in 1627 in the church of St. Petrus (Wörmlitz) . He had seven children with her, of whom only two survived after a plague epidemic in 1636.

With the flight of his employer from Wallenstein's troops, Scheidt became unemployed in 1628. That is why in the same year the office of Director musices (music director) was created especially for him for the three large churches of the city of Halle ( Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen , St. Mauritius (Moritzkirche) and St. Ulrich ).

As can be seen in recent research, Scheidt probably lost his position as music director of the city in 1630 through the possible re-Catholicization in Halle than through the well-known (somewhat overrated in literature) dispute with grammar school rector Christian Gueintz in 1630. Since then Scheidt was again a "mere private status" who earned his living with a number of students and casual music. Nevertheless, after 1631 he was able to publish four volumes of sacred concerts, albeit only reduced versions of polyphonic versions, which had to be left out of print and which are now lost. As can be seen from the prefaces of the prints, he reckoned with the facilities for the respective performance conditions that were customary in his time. In 1644 he had 70 symphonies printed, which were also intended as insertions for the sacred concerts. In 1650 the so-called Görlitz tablature followed as the last work with four-part chorale movements for practice.

Scheidt finally lost his entire fortune due to the war and received a funeral for the poor after his death.

He is one of the most important composers of the 17th century. His work is much broader overall than that of his contemporaries Heinrich Schütz and Johann Hermann Schein , thanks to both quantitative and qualitative contributions in the vocal and instrumental areas . Many of his poignant vocal works, especially the late Sacred Concerts and the Liebliche Kraftblümlein , are largely unknown and have not been performed to this day.

Works (selection)

Title of the tabulatura nova
  • Cantiones sacrae (1620)
  • Ludi Musici (1621)
  • Tabulatura nova I-III (1624)
  • Sacred concerts part I (1631)
  • Sacred concerts part II (1634)
  • Sacred concerts part III (1635)
  • Lovely Power Flowers (1635)
  • Sacred concerts part IV (1640)
  • LXX Symphonias (1644)
  • Görlitzer Tablature Book (1650)

Literature (selection)

  • Samuel Scheidt. A memorial to the 300th anniversary of his death on March 24, 1954. Published by the Halle (Saale) City Council, Culture Department. German Publishing House for Music, Leipzig 1954; contains contributions by Walther Siegmund-Schultze (Samuel Scheidt in our time) , Erich Neuss (where Samuel Scheidt lived in Halle) , Walther Serauky (Samuel Scheidt and Heinrich Schütz in their musical collaboration) , Werner Bachmann (Samuel Scheidt and the folk song) , Two letters from Samuel Scheidt and a chronological table on Scheidt's life and work as well as partly full-page black and white illustrations.
  • Pieter Dirksen : Scheidemann, Scheidt and the Toccata. In: Schütz-Jahrbuch 22 (2000), pp. 29-48.
  • Pieter Dirksen : On the concept of fantasy in Samuel Scheidt. In: Samuel Scheidt (1587–1654) - work and effect . Report on the international scientific conference on November 5th and 6th, 2004 as part of the Scheidt Honors 2004 in the city of Halle and on the symposium in Creuzburg on the 350th year of death, 25th – 27th March 2004. Halle an der Saale 2006, pp. 233–246.
  • Hendrik Dochhorn: Article Scheidt (family) , in: Music in past and present , person part, vol. 14, Kassel 2005, col. 1217–1249.
  • Robert Eitner :  Scheidt, Samuel . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 30, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, pp. 712-714.
  • Erika Gessner: Samuel Scheidt's sacred concerts. Berlin 1961.
  • Klaus-Peter Koch (Ed.): Samuel Scheidt Works Directory (SSWV) . Wiesbaden 2000.
  • Klaus-Peter Koch:  Scheidt, Samuel. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , pp. 634-636 ( digitized version ).
  • Klaus-Peter Koch: Samuel Scheidt Compendium . Beeskow 2012 (= ortus studies; 9).
  • Christhard Mahrenholz : Samuel Scheidt . Farnborough 1968 (Ndr. D. Leipzig 1924).
  • Walter Serauky: Samuel Scheidt in his letters . Hall 1937.
  • Wolfgang Stolze: musical architecture. Samuel Scheidt's four partes ludorum musicorum. A study of early baroque composition practice. GK Edition, Hamburg-Altona 1987.
  • Wolfgang Stolze: On the complete edition of the works of Samuel Scheidt. In: Die Musikforschung 40 (1987), pp. 120-135.
  • Wolfgang Stolze: “Was Samuel Scheidt a musical reactionary?” In: Musik und Kirche 52 (1982), pp. 113–126.
  • Wolfgang Stolze: The sentence with Samuel Scheidt. Problems with vocal additions. In: Samuel Scheidt (1587–1654) - work and effect . Report on the international scientific conference on November 5th and 6th, 2004 as part of the Scheidt Honors 2004 in the city of Halle and on the symposium in Creuzburg on the 350th year of death, 25th – 27th March 2004. Halle an der Saale 2006, pp. 69–93.

See also

List of German composers

Web links

Commons : Samuel Scheidt  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ In older editions of the MGG also the 3rd of November jul. / November 13th 1587 greg. called.
personal data
SURNAME Scheidt, Samuel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer, organist and court conductor
DATE OF BIRTH baptized November 13, 1587 or baptized November 14, 1587
PLACE OF BIRTH Halle (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH April 3, 1654
Place of death Halle (Saale)