Hieronymus Praetorius and Weser-Renaisssance

Program: #24-38   Air Date: Sep 16, 2024

I. Motets by Hieronymus Praetorius. CPO CD 777 245-2.

From Opera Today: A subsequent generation would be led by players such as Matthias Weckmann and Johann Adam Reinken, this latter a figure to whom J. S. Bach would bend the knee in his well-chronicled trip to Hamburg in 1720. At the earlier end of the spectrum stands the figure of Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-29), father of Jacob, the younger, and himself successor to his father, Jacob the elder, at the famed Jakobikirche.

This organ culture was bred by the prominence of the city’s churches, of which the Petrikirche, Jakobikirche, Catharinenkirche, and Nikolaikirche were especially significant. And in this environment some of the organists provided not only organ music, but also notable liturgical music in the form of motet and canticle. Such is the case with Hieronymus Praetorius, featured here in the CD anthology “San Marco in Hamburg.” The reference to “San Marco” acknowledges the strong influence of the Venetian school of Giovanni Gabrieli. The path from Germany to Venice was reasonably well worn, with the travels of composers like Heinrich Schütz and Hans Leo Hassler often cited examples, but the rich sonorities of Venice captivated other composers who had never heard the music of San Marco in situ. This was the case with Hieronymus Praetorius (and also with the better known Michael Praetorius— no family relation), but if learned from afar, it is a musical style they assimilated with fluency.

In “San Marco in Hamburg” the ensemble Weser-Renaissance Bremen under the direction of Manfred Cordes explores the Italian-influenced motets of Hieronymus, and does so with a recording of distinction. Though some of the pieces are large-scale, Cordes compellingly takes them on with only 15 musicians— six singers singing one-to-a-part and 9 instrumentalists combining winds, strings, and continuo. The result is that in the sumptuous 12-voice “Jubilate Deo” that opens the recording, the sonic richness is a subtler taste to savor rather than a full-belted blast of power that overwhelms. And this holds true for the large number of 8-voice works, as well. Performed in this way, the clarity of motive, the unflagging attention to purity of intonation— such wonderful final chords in the sections of the “Magnificat”!— and general buoyance of the sound can come to the fore with very satisfying results.

The decorative passage work is well served by the one-to-a-part configuration, and in motets like “Cantate Domino,” this ornamental style sparkles as foil to the suave lilt of triple-meter tutti passages. Two of the motets, “Ab oriente and Wie lang” are performed as solo motets, with accompanying polyphonic voices played instrumentally. In “Ab oriente,” this gives a welcome chance to relish the fine control of alto Peter de Groot’s sensitive singing, and the plaintive ethereal sounds of soprano Monika Mauch in “Wie lang” offer one of the highlights of the recording.

II. Missa In festo Sanctissimae Trinitas. CPO CD 777 954-2.

Missa in Festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis' presents the reconstruction of a main religious service in one of the principal Hamburg churches at the beginning of the seventeenth century; it consists of works for ensemble and organ by the composer Hieronymus Praetorius, who was the organist at the Church of St. James in Hamburg from 1582 until his death in 1629. In between, the liturgical components of the Mass that were performed monophonically are heard as they have would have been in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg. The search for a suitable instrument led to the choice of the swallow's nest organ in St. Mary's Church in Lemgo; it may be regarded as a model example of the Northern German organ building tradition and has a mean-tone temperament ideal for the period of composition, characteristics, and stylistics of the selected repertoire.

From Musica Dei Donum: Hieronymus Praetorius was a member of a dynasty of organists who played a key role in music life in Hamburg from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century. Hieronymus is the only one who has left a substantial amount of vocal music. For the present recording, Manfred Cordes selected pieces from his oeuvre in order to reconstruct a service as it could have taken place in one of the major churches in Hamburg in the early 17th century. He could rely on an important document which includes the liturgical order there: Cantica sacra of 1588 by Franz Eler. 

Although Martin Luther emphasized the importance of the use of the vernacular in church, he did not abolish the use of Latin altogether. Especially in larger churches, with choirs whose members were educated at Latin schools, it remained part of the liturgy. Luther himself laid down regulations for communion services in his Formulae missae of 1529. That said, most masses in Lutheran Germany composed in the course of the 17th and early 18th centuries comprised only a Kyrie and a Gloria. The other parts of the mass were mostly sung in the form of hymns in German, such as Wir gläuben all an einen Gott (Gloria), Jesaia dem Propheten das geschah (Sanctus) and Jesus Christus unser Heiland (Agnus Dei). Praetorius is one of the last composers in Lutheran Germany, who composed masses which comprise the complete ordinarium. They are collected in the Liber missarum of 1616, which was reprinted as volume III of his collected works (Opus musicum, III, 1624). Five of them are specifically connected to feasts of the ecclesiastical year (two for Advent, one each for Christmas, Easter and St Michael). The remaining mass, the Missa Benedicam Dominum, seems to be intended for other occasions. It is recorded here as the core of a service during the Trinity season, the period from the Sunday after Whitsun to the last Sunday before Advent. This is the kind of service presented here. 

As the introitus of the mass, the motet Adesto unus Deus was chosen: "Be present, the one God, omnipotent Father". It is for five voices, and performed here by two singers (soprano and tenor), with cornett, sackbuts, dulcian and organ. Then we hear the Kyrie; in Praetorius' setting there are just three verses, but each section— Kyrie, Christe, Kyrie— was usually sung three times. For this recording some of the missing verses are played as organ versets from Praetorius' own pen and partly sung in plainchant. This is followed by the Gloria from Praetorius' mass which is for six voices. It is a so-called parody mass, as many were written during the Renaissance. Praetorius used his own motet, also for six voices, as his starting point. 

Next follow Greeting (Salutatio), Collect and Epistle; the latter is from Paul's letter to the Romans (ch 11, vs 33-36). As a substitute for the Sequence, we hear the eight-part motet Domine, Dominus noster, a setting of Psalm 8: "O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the world". It is performed by three voices, cornett, sackbuts, dulcian and organ. Next is the hymn O lux beata Trinitas; it does not belong to the mass, but is included here to replace Gospel and Sermon, which are omitted. Although Praetorius set this entire text, here it is divided into three sections. The first is in plainchant, the second is played at the organ— probably an intabulation of the corresponding section of Praetorius' setting— and the third in Praetorius' setting for seven voices. 

The Gloria of Praetorius's mass has been omitted; instead we hear the German hymn Wir gläuben all an einen Gott in a four-part setting by Jacob Praetorius. This was common practice, but considering that we have here probably the first and only recording of Hieronymus's mass, I would have liked to hear the Gloria in his version. The Offertory is his motet for six voices whose material he used for his mass. It is performed here by two singers, two sackbuts, dulcian and organ. The Preface (Praefatio) is in plainchant, which is followed by Praetorius's eight-part alternatim setting of the Lord's Prayer (Pater noster). 

The words of the institution (Verba institutionis), which precedes communion, are again sung in plainchant. The Agnus Dei from Praetorius' mass is performed here as alternatim between polyphony (I,III) and organ (II). Greeting (Salutatio), Collect and Blessing (Benedictio) are again in plainchant. The service ends with Praetorius's motet Te Deum patrem ingenitum for eight voices in two choirs, performed here by the entire ensemble. On the words "toto corde" (with all our hearts) and the doxology the two choirs unite. 

It brings to a close a very interesting recording which not only sheds light on a part of Hieronymus Praetorius's oeuvre that is not that well known, but also on the liturgical practice in Hamburg around 1600. It is a matter of good luck that we are so well informed about the way the liturgy was constructed. The performance is pretty much ideal. Excellent voices which blend perfectly, with each other and with the instruments, and a performance which pays much attention to the text. Obviously the rather reverberant acoustic causes some problems here, but that is the price one has to pay, if one wants to use an appopriate organ. The instrument in the Marienkirche in Lemgo, the so-called 'swallow's nest' organ, dates from the early 17th century and is in meantone temperament, which is essential for a stylish performance of this kind of repertoire. 

Johan van Veen (© 2019)