Baroque Era
1646
First English Civil War ends with the Royalist surrender of Oxford; King Charles I escapes to the Scots at Newcastle; negotiations between king and parliament collapse when Charles rejects Presbyterianism as England’s national religion • In Thirty Years’ War, Swedes and French invade Bavaria; Swedish forces enter Prague
1647
Scottish army hands over King Charles I to English parliament • England’s parliament passes further ordinances against the theatre: performers to be whipped and audiences fined • Evangelista Torricelli, Italian mathematician and physicist, dies • Rembrandt - Susanna and the Elders
1648
Second English Civil War: Scots invade England on behalf of Charles I, but are defeated at Preston, Lancashire, by Cromwell’s parliamentary army • Treaty of Westphalia ends The Thirty Years' War • Fronde (literally ‘sling’) rebellions begin in Paris
1649
Second English Civil War ends with execution of King Charles I • A republican Commonwealth replaces England’s monarchy (until 1660), under the ‘Rump’ parliament; actual power rests with Oliver Cromwell • Charles’s son is proclaimed as King Charles II in Scotland • Third English Civil War: royalist revolts in Scotland and Ireland
1650
Royalist Marquis of Montrose leads rebellion in Scotland: is defeated and executed • Prince Charles (eldest son of Charles I) lands in Scotland and is again proclaimed king; parliamentary general Oliver Cromwell defeats Scots at Battle of Dunbar • Anglican clergyman James Ussher (Ire) uses Biblical ‘proofs’ to put the date of creation at 4004 BC • England’s Puritan rulers make adultery punishable by death • World population reaches 500 million • Anne Bradstreet (Eng/N Amer): poems The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
1646
The 14-year-old Giovanni Battista Lulli (Jean-Baptiste Lully) leaves Italy for Paris, where he takes up an appointment of Italian tutor to Anne-Marie-Louise d’Orleans, the 19-year-old niece of the Chevalier de Guise. He continues his musical training in violin, harpsichord and composition.
Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, (29 May 1627 – 5 April 1693)
Luigi Rossi arrives in Paris at the invitation of Cardinal Mazarin who has granted protection to Rossis exiled patron, Cardinal Antonio Barberini. He begins to write his opera Orfeo.
Antonio Barberini (5 August 1607 – 3 August 1671) was an Italian Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Reims, military leader, patron of the arts.
Around this time Heinrich Schutz writes his exceptional Passion oratorio Die sieben Worte Jem Christi am Kreuz (also known in translation as Seven Last Words).
Heinrich Schütz: Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz (SWV 478)
Franz Tunder begins his series of Abendspielen (Evening Performances) in Lubeck. The origin of these free public concerts is thought to have been the composers weekly organ recitals, given to entertain local businessmen awaiting the midday opening of the stock exchange. Assisted by the patronage of wealthy townspeople, the concerts will later evolve into the famous tradition of Abendmusiken under Tunders son-in-law, Dieterich Buxtehude.
Franz Tunder - Christ lag in Todesbanden
February
Francesco Cavalli's L’Egisto (1643) receives its French premiere at the Palais-Royal, Paris.
Cavalli - L'Egisto (1 of 15), (5 of 15), (14 of 15), (15 of 15)
29 July
Johann Theile, German composer, born.
24 September
Composer Duarte Lobo, leading Portuguese exponent of the polyphonic style, dies in Lisbon, aged about 80.
3 October
Italian composer Virgilio Mazzocchi dies in Civita Castellana, aged 49.
7 October
Orazio Benevoli is appointed successor to Virgilio Mazzocchi as maestro di cappella of the Cappella Giulia at St Peter’s, Rome.
Orazio Benevoli - Missa Tira Corda
0:10 Kyrie 7:40 Gloria 18:20 Credo
31:25 Sanctus 35:00 Agnus Dei
Johann Theile
Johann Theile (29 July 1646 – 24 June 1724) was a German composer of the Baroque era, famous for the opera Adam und Eva, Der erschaffene, gefallene und aufgerichtete Mensch, first performed in Hamburg on 2 January 1678.
After studying law in Leipzig and Halle, Theile took instruction in composition in Weißenfels. His teacher there was the great Heinrich Schütz, the most prominent German composer of the 17th century. Theile is believed to have been one of his last pupils, and is considered one of the most gifted among them. Between 1673 and 1675 he held the position of Court Kapellmeister for Duke Christian Albrecht of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp. Some years later he held the position of Kapellmeister in Wolfenbüttel, where he commenced a musical apprenticeship to Johann Rosenmüller, who by this time had permanently returned to Northern Germany after having spent most of his career in Italy. He also worked in Naumburg, where he likewise held the position of Kapellmeister; Berlin, where he was active as a music teacher to the royal court; as well as Lübeck and Stettin, where he also served a music instructor. In 1673 he wrote his Matthäuspassion (St. Matthew Passion) in Lübeck.
In 1694, Theile returned from a stint as a musical advisor to the Duke of Zeitz to his home town of Naumburg, where he died in 1724.
Theile’s compositions encompass Singspiels (German folk operas with spoken dialogue), operas, masses, Psalm settings, Passions (passion oratorios), arias, canzonettas, and sonatas, as well as motets. His sacred opera Adam und Eva was the first work to be performed at the Goosemarket Opera in Hamburg – the first civic opera house in Germany.
Johann Theile - Matthew passion (excerpt 1)
Johann Theile - Matthew passion (excerpt 2)
Johann Theile - Matthew passion (excerpt 4)
Johann Theile - Matthew passion (excerpt 5)
Johann Theile: Kyrie (Missa Brevis)
Theile - Gehab dich wohl / Mein Geist der opfert dir
1647
Johannes Cruger publishes his influential Praxis pietatis melica (The Practice of Piety in Song), a large compilation of chorales, including arrangements and compositions of his own. A number of his settings will remain in use for centuries to come, including Now thank we all our God and Jesu.
Praxis pietatis melica.
Title page of the 39th edition, 1721
Now Thank We All Our God
Chorale-Prelude on Jesu Meine Freude - Johann Cruger
English composer Pelham Humfrey is born around this time.
Dutch diplomat, amateur poet and composer Constantijn Huygens publishes his Pathodia sacra et profana, a collection of motets and airs, in Paris. It is the first work printed in France to incorporate basso continuo.
Constantijn Huygens - Pathodia Sacra Et Profana For Voice And Continuo (1647) No.34
2 March
Luigi Rossi’s opera Orfeo, commissioned by Cardinal Mazarin, is premiered at the Palais-Royal in Paris. Performed in Italian with impressive stage machinery by Giacomo Torelli, the opera is well received, although some of Mazarin’s dissenters criticise the vast extravagance of the production.
Orfeo - Tragicomedia per Musica - Libretto by Francesco Buti - Music by Luigi Rossi
Leading Czech composer Adam Vaclav Michna brings out his Ceska maridnska muzika (Czech Marian Music).
Adam Vaclav Michna z Otradovic "Ceska Marianska musika"
Heinrich Schutz publishes his second collection of Symphoniae sacrae for solo voices, obbligato instruments and continuo.
Heinrich Schütz - Symphoniae sacrae II per soli, strumenti e basso continuo 341-367 (1647)
10 May
Leading Spanish composer Mateo Romero dies in Madrid, aged about 72. He was a long-serving maestro de capilla at the Spanish court and largely responsible for introducing the modern Italian manner to Spain.
Pelham Humfrey
Pelham Humfrey (Humphrey, Humphrys) (London 1647 – Windsor 14 July 1674) was an English composer. He was the first of the new generation of English composers at the beginning of the Restoration to rise to prominence.
By the age of seventeen Humfrey's anthems were evidently in use and he was sent by the King to study in Paris, probably in January 1665 where he was greatly influenced by music at the French Court. On the basis of the music he wrote on his return, he also assimilated the more expressive vocal style of Carissimi. He later succeeded Henry Cooke (his father-in-law) as Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal and also became composer to the Court.
Humfrey died at the age of 27, but along with Matthew Locke exerted a strong influence on his peers even at his young age, including William Turner, Henry Purcell, and John Blow. His early death is considered one of the greatest tragedies in the history of English music; at his death he had already produced several works of great poignancy and expressive power including the Verse Anthem O Lord my God.
Humfrey's dress sense and general demeanour is mentioned unfavourably in the diary of Samuel Pepys.
He writes:
Little Pelham Humphreys is an absolute monsieur as full of form and confidence and vanity, and disparages everybody's skill but his own. The truth is, every body says he is very able, but to hear how he laughs at all the King's musick here, as Blagrave and others, that they cannot keep time nor tune, nor understand anything; and that Grebus, the Frenchman, the King's master of the musick, how he understands nothing, nor can play on any instrument, and so cannot compose: and that he will give him a lift out of his place; and that he and the King are mighty great! and that he hath already spoke to the King of Grebus would make a man piss.
One of Humfrey's best-known compositions is his setting of the poem "A Hymn to God the Father", by John Donne.
Pelham Humfrey - "By the waters of Babylon"
Pelham Humfrey: A Hymn to God the Father
1648
Around this time Giacomo Carissimi composes his most famous oratorio: Jephte. Based on the storv from the Book of Judges, the work is introduced by a historicus (narrator) and features recitatives, ariettas, duets and choruses. Like most 17th- century oratorios, Jephte demands only chambersize forces.
Giacomo Carissimi - JEPHTE
German composer Wolfgang Ebner produces a set of 36 variations for harpsichord on a theme by Emperor Ferdinand III.
Wolfgang Ebner - ARIA
Henry Lawes publishes a collection of 60 psalm settings in Choice Psalmes, dedicated to his brother, William Lawes, who died three years previously at the siege of Chester. The collection comprises an equal amount of pieces by the two brothers.
Henry Lawes - Psalm 8
French civilians and members of parliament, uniting as the Fronde, attempt to limit the power of the monarchy and with it that of the chief royal advisor, Cardinal Mazarin. Political pamphleteering also targets those patronised by Marazin, including the composer Luigi Rossi and the set designer Giacomo Torelli. During the ensuing armed conflicts, Rossi manages to flee Paris, but Torelli is imprisoned.
Cardinal Mazarin
Michael Wise, English organist and composer, born.
Heinrich Schutz publishes his Geistliche Chor-Musik (Sacred Choral Music), an important collection of German motets for five to seven voices, conceived primarily for a cappella worship.
Heinrich Schütz Geistiche Chormusik I (1648)
No. 1. Es wird das Scepter von Juda nicht entwendet werden, SWV 369 3:04
No. 2. Er wird sein Kleid in Wein waschen, SWV 370 2:50
No. 3. Es ist erschienen die heilsame Gnade Gottes, SWV 371 3:59
No. 4, Verleih uns Frieden genädiglich, SWV 372 2:27
No. 5. Gib unsern Fursten und aller Obrigkeit Fried und gut Regiment, SWV 373 2:21
No. 6. Unser keiner lebet ihm selber, SWV 374 3:53
0No. 7. Viel werden kommen von Morgen und von Abend, SWV 375 3:31
No. 8. Sammlet zuvor das Unkraut, SWV 376 2:01
No. 9. Herr, auf dich traue ich, SWV 377 3:38
No. 10. Die mit Tranen saen, SWV 378 4:19
11No. 11. So fahr ich hin zu Jesu Christ, SWV 379 3:44
No. 12. Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt, SWV 380 2:55
No. 13. O Lieber Herr Gott, Wecke Uns Auf 3:35
1No. 14. Trostet, trostet mein Volk, SWV 382 3:53
No. 15. Ich bin eine rufende Stimme, SWV 383 4:55
No. 16. Ein Kind Ist Uns Geboren 4:04
No. 17. Das Wort ward Fleisch, SWV 385 4:47
Heinrich Schütz Geistiche Chormusik II (1648)
No. 18. Die Himmel erzahlen die Ehre Gottes, SWV 386 4:56
No. 19. Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr, SWV 387 11:01
No. 20. Das ist je gewisslich wahr und ein teuer wertes Wort, SWV 388 5:24
No. 21. Ich bin ein rechter Weinstock, SWV 389 3:51
No. 22. Unser Wandel ist im Himmel, SWV 390 4:34
No. 23. Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herren sterben, SWV 391 5:05
No. 24. Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit, SWV 392 4:30
No. 25. Ich weiss, dass main Erloser lebt, SWV 393 3:27
No. 26. Sehet an den Geigenbaum und alle Baume, SWV 394 4:20
No. 27. Der Engel sprach zu den Hirten, SWV 395 2:38
No. 28. Auf dem Gebirge hat ein Geschrei gehort, SWV 396 4:17
No. 29. Du Schalksknecht, alle diese Schuld habe ich dir erlassen, SWV 397 4:20
19 August
Johann Michael Bach, German composer, born.
1 September
French philosopher, mathematician and music theorist Marin Mersenne dies in Paris, aged 59.
Marin Mersenne, Marin Mersennus or le Père Mersenne (French: [mɛʀsɛn]; 8 September 1588 – 1 September 1648) was a French theologian, philosopher, mathematician and music theorist, often referred to as the "father of acoustics". Mersenne, an ordained priest, had many contacts in the scientific world and has been called "the center of the world of science and mathematics during the first half of the 1600s."
Johann Michael Bach
Johann Michael Bach (baptised 19 August [O.S. 9 August] 1648, Arnstadt, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – 27 May [O.S. 17 May] 1694, Gehren) was a German composer of the Baroque period. He was the brother of Johann Christoph Bach, as well as first cousin, once removed and father-in-law of Johann Sebastian Bach (he was the father of J.S. Bach's first wife Maria Barbara Bach). He is sometimes referred to as the "Gehrener Bach" to distinguish him from the "Wuppertaler Bach", Johann Michael Bach (1745–1820).
Life and works
Johann Michael was born at Arnstadt, the son of Heinrich Bach, who was the great uncle of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1673, Johann Michael became the organist and town clerk of Gehren, where he lived until his death.
His most-performed work is the small chorale prelude for organ, In Dulci Jubilo, which for many years was attributed to J. S. Bach. (It was ascribed the catalog number BWV 751.) His other most important works include cantatas Ach, bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ (for choir, strings and continuo), Liebster Jesu, hör mein Flehen (for soprano, alto, two tenors, bass, strings and continuo), and Ach, wie sehnlich wart' ich der Zeit (also for soprano, strings, and continuo).
Johann Michael Bach - Halt, was du hast
Michael Wise
Michael Wise (1648–1687) was an English organist and composer. He sang as a child in the choir of the Chapel Royal and served as a countertenor in St George's Chapel, Windsor, from 1666 until, in 1668, he was appointed organist and choirmaster at Salisbury Cathedral. In 1676 he became a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and in the last year of his life was Master of the Children at St Paul's Cathedral.
During a violent struggle with a Salisbury night watchman following a domestic dispute, he sustained a blow to the head "which broke his skull, of the consequence whereof he died."
Michael Wise - Magnificat & Nunc dimittis in F
1649
John Blow is born around this time in Newark, Nottinghamshire.
Les Passions de I’ame by Descartes is published in Amsterdam.
The treatise proves influential for its advancement of the philosophy of musical ‘affections’.
Title page of the Passions.
5 January
Francesco Cavalli's Giasone, accounting the amorous machinations of Jason (Giasone), leader of the Argonauts, enjoys a triumphant premiere at the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice. It becomes the most often performed opera of the 17th century, thanks in part to Giacinto Cicognini's accomplished libretto, which provides a faster-paced narrative than that of previous opera.
Francesco CAVALLI: GIASONE
27 February
German composer Johann Philipp Krieger is baptised in Nuremberg.
Johann Jakob Froberger completes his second book of
keyboard pieces (first book lost), including some of the earliest keyboard suites.
Johann Jakob Froberger Keyboard Works
Andreas Hammerschmidt publishes his third book of secular songs in Weltliche Oden (books I and II published 1642/3) and also 20 sacred concertos in his Motettae for one to two voices and basso continuo.
Andreas Hammerschmidt: Wir lieblich sind dein Wohnungen, motet à 5
Andreas Hammerschmidt: Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt, motet à 6
29/30 April
Italian composer Giovanni Valentini dies in Vienna, aged about 66.
Antonio Bertali succeeds him as Kapellmeister to the imperialcourt in Vienna.
Pascal Collasse, French composer, born.
John Blow
John Blow, (baptized Feb. 23, 1649, Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, Eng.—died Oct. 1, 1708, Westminster, London), organist and composer, remembered for his church music and for Venus and Adonis, which is regarded as the earliest surviving English opera.
He was probably educated at the Magnus Song School in Nottinghamshire and in 1660 became a chorister at the Chapel Royal. He was appointed organist of Westminster Abbey (1668), and in 1669 he became one of the king’s musicians for virginals. In March 1674 he was sworn in as a gentleman of the Chapel Royal and became master of the children, a position he held until his death. He had great influence on the choristers under him and also on his student, Henry Purcell. In 1676 or 1677 he became one of the Chapel Royal organists, and in 1677 the dean and chapter of Canterbury conferred on him a doctorate of music—the first instance of what became known as a Lambeth Degree in music.
In 1679 Blow was succeeded as organist at Westminster Abbey by Purcell; he was reappointed after Purcell’s death in 1695.
The years 1680–1700 were the most productive and prosperous of his life. In 1687 he became master of the children of St. Paul’s, a position he held for 16 years; and in 1699 he received his last appointment, as first composer to the Chapel Royal.
Blow’s official positions entailed the writing of much religious and secular ceremonial music. At least 10 services and more than 100 anthems are extant, and many remain in regular use. He was at his best in the writing of full anthems in a simple chordal or contrapuntal style with melodies of great strength and sweetness developed over a ground bass. He excelled also in the writing of services; outstanding is his Service in G Major. His Venus and Adonis, written between 1680 and 1685 for performance at court and called by him A Masque for the Entertainment of the King, was important in the development of English opera. It is the first surviving dramatic work with English text in which the whole text is set to music without either spoken dialogue or extraneous musical entertainment. His songs for one, two, three, and four voices, which appear in many contemporary collections and in his own Amphion Anglicus (1700), are notable for their charm of melody.
John Blow: anthem "I was glad"
Johann Philipp Krieger
Johann Philipp Krieger, (baptized Feb. 27, 1649, Nürnberg—died Feb. 6, 1725, Weissenfels, Saxony), German composer known especially for his church cantatas, fugues, and keyboard suites.
Krieger studied at Nürnberg and Copenhagen and became court organist at Bayreuth in 1670. Later he studied and toured in Italy, working with Johann Rosenmüller in Venice and Bernardo Pasquini in Rome. After a brief return to Bayreuth, he became chapelmaster to the court of Halle in 1677; the court moved to Weissenfels in 1680.
Only about 80 of Krieger’s 2,000 cantatas are extant. Like his fugues, they represent an important stage in the development of their genre from the earlier Baroque style to that of J.S. Bach.
Johann Philipp Krieger XII Trio Sonatas
Pascal Collasse
Pascal Collasse (or Colasse) (22 January 1649 (baptised) – 17 July 1709) was a French composer of the Baroque era. Born in Rheims, Collasse became a disciple of Jean-Baptiste Lully during the latter's domination of the French operatic stage. When Lully died in 1687 leaving his tragédie en musique Achille et Polyxène unfinished, Collasse completed the last four acts of the score. He went on to produce around a dozen operas and ballets, as well as sacred music, including settings of the Cantiques spirituels of Jean Racine.
His plan to establish his own opera house in Lille ended in failure when the theatre burnt down. He dabbled in alchemy with even less success. His musical style is close to that of Lully.
Pascal Collase Achille et Polixene
1650
Heinrich Albert completes his eighth and final book of Arien, featuring sacred and secular songs.
Heinrich Albert: Two arias
Samuel Scheidt brings out his Gorlitzer Tabulatur-Buch, containing 100 four-part chorale settings for organ.
Samuel Scheidt from the Görlitzer Tabulaturbuch (1650)
Around this time John Jenkins, England’s leading composer of music for viols, completes his collection of 21 fantasias for two trebles and a bass.
JOHN JENKINS - Fantasia-suite for two violins, two violas da gamba, and basso continuo in A minor
In Rome, German music theorist and historian Athanasius Kircher publishes Musurgia universalis, a significant treatise containing musical theories and a discussion of Italian and German compositional practices. Kircher quotes various musical examples by Carlo Gesualdo, Giovanni Kapsberger and Giacomo Carissimi. The compendium also includes a fantasia by
J. J. Froberger, his first printed work.
Athanasius Kircher, (2 May 1602 – 28 November 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jesuit Roger Boscovich and to Leonardo da Vinci for his enormous range of interests, and has been honored with the title "Master of a Hundred Arts".
The Musurgia Universalis (1650) sets out Kircher's views on music: he believed that the harmony of music reflected the proportions of the universe. The book includes plans for constructing water-powered automatic organs, notations of birdsong and diagrams of musical instruments. One illustration shows the differences between the ears of humans and other animals. In Phonurgia Nova (1673) Kircher considered the possibilities of transmitting music to remote places.
Musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni [Tome 2]-maquina automatica sinfonica
Musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni [Tome 2]- eaves dropping.
Nicolas Goupillet, French composer, born.
Monteverdi’s Messa et salmi is published posthumously in Venice.
Monteverdi - Mass for Four Voices (1650)
German composer and violinist Johann Jakob Walther is born around this time in Witterda, Thuringia.
11 February
Rene Descartes dies in Stockholm, aged 53. His musical treatise Compendium musicae, written 32 years previously, is published in Utrecht this same year. It presents one of the earliest discources on the relationship between the scientific and psychological phenomena in music.
The tomb of Descartes in the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris
20 February
Francesco Cavalli’s opera L’Orimonte, on a libretto by Faustini, opens at the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice.
Orimonte: Numi cieche più di me by Pier Francesco Cavalli.
20 May
Italian opera composer Francesco Sacrati dies (possibly in Modena) aged 44.
Summer
Antonio Cesti’s lifestyle outside his duties as a monk causes concern within his Franciscan order, with suspicions of unchaste conduct. Later this year he is accused by a superior-general of bringing dishonour to his monastery through his celebrity as an opera singer.
December
Heinrich Schutz publishes his third and final set of Symphoniae sacrae. The 65-year-old Hofkapellmeister is still unable to fully retire due to lack of funds at the Dresden court.
Heinrich Schütz - Syphoniae Sacrae part 1
1.Der Herr ist mein Hirt, SWV 398
2. Ich hebe meine Augen auf, SWV 399
3. Wo der Herr nicht das Haus bauet, SWV 400
Heinrich Schütz - Symphoniae Sacrae III, part 2
5. O, Herr, hilf, SWV 402
6. Siehe, es erschien der Engel des Herren, SWV 493
Heinrich Schütz - Symphoniae Sacrae III, part 3
7. Fegen den alten Sauerteig aus, SWV 404
8. O süser Jesu Christ, SWV 405
Heinrich Schütz - Symphoniae Sacrae III, part 4
9. O Jesu süss, wer dein gedenkt, SWV 406
10. Lasset uns doch den Herren, unsern Gott, loben, SWV 407
Guillaume Minoret, French composer, born.
Johann Jakob Walther
Johann Jakob Walther (1650 – 2 November 1717) was a German violinist and composer.
Life
All the known facts of his life and activity are from the Musikalischen Lexikon by Johann Gottfried Walther (Johann Sebastian Bach's cousin), a dictionary which first appeared in 1732. J.J. Walther was born in Witterda bei Erfurt. Between 1670 and 1674 he is said to have remained a violinist in the orchestra of Cosimo III of the Medicis in Florence. From 1674 he was concertmaster at the court of Dresden. After the death of his patron in 1680 he became the Italian secretary at the elector's court in Mainz and was ordained a canon. He died in Mainz.
Works
40 compositions are known, contained in two volumes:
1. Scherzi da Violino solo con il basso continuo, published in 1676. This cycle anticipates Paganini's technique in that it contains pizzicato harp imitations while the bow imitates nightingale song.
2. Hortulus chelicus published in 1688 (in the second printing of 1694 with the new title Wohlgepflanzter Violinischer Lustgarten). In the foreword, Walther expresses his confidence that this self-published volume will enjoy the same success as its predecessor. It contains 28 pieces and is more varied than the other collection..
J. J. WALTHER - HORTULUS CHELICUS (1688)
SUITE n. 6 for violin and basso continuo in B minor
PASSAGAGLI n. 7 for violin and basso in D minor
SUITE n. 8 for violin and basso continuo in E major
SUITE n. 9 for violin and basso continuo in C minor
ARIA n. 14 for violin and basso continuo in G minor
SUITE n. 20 for violin and basso continuo in E minor
SERENATA a un Coro n. 28 in D major
Nicolas Goupillet
Nicolas Goupillet also Coupillet or Goupillier (Senlis, ca. 1650 - Paris, ca. 1713) was a French Baroque composer - albeit a composer who may not have himself composed all of his works.
In 1683 the then fifty-year-old "Sun King" Louis XIV commanded that a competition be held to select four rotating seasonal choirmasters to replace the retiring Henry Du Mont and at the Chapelle royale. Of the 35 applicants, four were selected: Michel Richard Delalande, then the late Lully's assistant Pascal Colasse; Guillaume Minoret a minor figure from Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois; and finally Nicolas Goupillet, from Meaux.Goupillet was dismissed from the Chapelle Royale in 1693 when it was discovered that he had been passing off as his own compositions the works of Henry Desmarets - a talented composer who had passed over because of his youth in the competition 10 years earlier. At first the story went around that Desmarets had simply heard his works performed by chance, later suspicions were aroused that Desmarets had been complicit in the deception and blown the whistle when Goupillet failed to pay him.
And yet Goupillet clearly could compose when he had to, since the second stage of the original competition in 1683 secluded the applicants in Paris and had them all write grands motets to Psalm 31 Beati quorum remissae sunt iniquitates. In any event the king was not too hard on Goupillet and awarded him a modest pension and a canonship at Saint-Quentin, Aisne.
Goupillet claimed to have been a choir-boy at Notre-Dame under Pierre Robert, but no evidence survives of this.[3] Goupillet was first employed at Langres Cathedral till he was dismissed, for reasons unknown, in September 1681. He found work in Meaux, but then in 1683 applied for, and succeeded, in application for the Paris competition. Sébastien de Brossard lists several works (now lost) as possibly by Goupillet, but the way in which Brossard describes them suggest they were actually by André Pechon, Goupillet's predecessor at Meaux. During the 9 months of the year when he was not required in Paris, Goupillet returned to work with Pierre Tabart at Meaux.
Guillaume Minoret
Guillaume Minoret (ca. April 1650 – 1717 or December 1720) was a French Baroque composer.
Minoret was born in Paris. He was possibly trained by the school of Notre-Dame de Paris, under the composer Pierre Robert. At the age of about twenty, he became master of music (maître de chapelle) at the cathédrale de Rodez, then at Saint-Sernin de Toulouse, succeeding the composer Étienne Moulinié. On 26 April 1679 he was made master of the music at the cathédrale Sainte-Croix d'Orléans, but did not stay there long and left around the start of September - his successor Pierre Tabart was installed on 9 November the same year. Claude Perrault (brother of the conteur), noted in his Relation du Voyage de Paris à Bordeaux "At Holy Cross [...] we heard music that was very good and which, today, is second only to that at Notre-Dame de Paris".
After leaving Orléans, Minoret was employed at the church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois in Paris. In April 1683 he took part in a competition organised by Louis XIV with the aim of recruiting four sous-maîtres for the chapelle royale at the Palace of Versailles (the post of maître was held by an ecclesiastic without any musical function). With Michel Le Tellier's support, Minoret one of the four taken on (the other three were Michel-Richard Delalande, Pascal Colasse and Nicolas Goupillet). Minoret entered the role on the following 1 July. Because he was a priest, he and Nicolas Goupillet were put in charge of the education of the pages of the chapel (i.e., the young boys who sang in the choir, which was otherwise made up of professional adult men). He began by reorganising this musical chapel in summer 1683 and held the role until 1714, leaving it shortly before the king's death on 1 September 1715. Minoret himself died at Versailles some time later (exact date uncertain).
Rembrandt - Susanna and the Elders