BACH: UNDER THE INFLUENCE – DOUGLAS HOLLICK (RVRCD 121)

NOTES

Matthias Weckmann was organist of the Jacobikirche in Hamburg during the final years of his life, and his four verse setting of the Magnificat plainsong chant is a fine example of his writing, reflecting his reputation as one of the greatest players of his time.

The chant is in the tenor of verse one, in the decorated top line of verse two, in the alto (played on a pedal four-foot reed) in verse three, and treated more freely in the final exuberant verse. Weckmann was a protégé of Schütz, a pupil of Giovanni Gabrieli, and a colleague of Froberger in Dresden before taking up the Hamburg post, thus having a wide knowledge of different styles of composition: from Germany, Italy and France through Froberger’s friendship with Louis Couperin. This breadth of experience he would have shared with colleagues in Hamburg, and of course with Buxtehude in nearby Lübreck. His little Canzon is a tour de force of playful counterpoint!