DAILY DOSE OF BEETHOVEN (September 16, 2020)
When some of his friends protested about the complexity of Mozart's and Beethoven's fugues (which they found boring), Robert Schumann replied that he could "revel in their fugues all day."
Most of us, of course, don't have time for that, but now that we are acquainted with the form, let us delight in the creativity and progress made in “Fugue” over the centuries!
1. “Fantasia Chromatica” by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562- 1621)
Although it existed before, Sweelinck, a contemporary of Shakespeare, really invented the modern form of the fugue. This work was composed for organ, we prefer this dramatic string version. Perhaps you can hear the composer investigating the very nature of the well-tempered system in a manner reminiscent of Bach's “Musical Offering”—but about 140 years earlier!
2. “Fugue in G Minor”, by Jan Adam Reincken (1643-1722).
Sweelinck was known as "The Maker of Organists." Students would come from Northern Germany to study with him in Amsterdam, then return to Germany and build the tradition there. One of his best students, Heinrich Scheidemann, became head organist at the Catharineskirche in Hamburg. Scheidemann's student, Jan Adam Reincken succeeded him there. Reincken was close friends with Dieterich Buxtehude (see painting below), and would be just as famous today, except there only a handful of works extant by him.
The progress in two generations is amazing. This fugue by Reincken is lively and fun.
3. There are only two musicians that J.S. Bach (1685-1750) travelled a long distance to see: Buxtehude in 1705 and Reincken in 1720.
When Bach improvised in front of an audience at Reincken's church in Hamburg, Reincken was reported to have said: " I thought this art died with me, but now I see it lives in you." Both Sweelinck and Reincken came from Deventer Holland, the home of the Brotherhood of the Common Life, which spread literacy amongst the poor. Bach improvised this fugue on a Dutch folk song in honor of Reincken's Dutch origin, as part of the great “Fantasia and Fugue in g minor, BWV 542”. Again the progress is astounding. (The colors in this recording are actually fairly accurate representations of the organ voices, with blue representing the pedals - some fancy footwork to be sure!)
The painter Johannes Voorhout, dedicated this work "The Musical Company", to "brothers Reincken and Buxtehude". Reincken is seated at the keyboard and Buxtehude plays the cello.