Abendmusik

The musical evenings are the most traditional series of sacred music events in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. They were the first regular church music events outside of worship and did not cost entry because they were sponsored by the local economy.

The historic evening music from the 17th to the 19th century

Formation

The Abendmusiken were established by Franz Tunder in his time as organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck ( 1641-1667 ). The origin of these concerts went off not by the congregation, but from the merchants by the " Commerzierenden guilds " is from 1646 left a " time cut " give his organ playing before the stock market in the next door Lübeck Town Hall. Tunder extended the first pure organ concerts by string instruments and vocals.

Flower

Dietrich Buxtehude, Tunder's successor as organist at St. Mary's, took over this tradition established by his predecessor and built the series of events during his tenure at this church (1668-1707) further. On his initiative, in 1669 the singers galleries were installed in the nave of the church. Since 1673, the concept of Abendmusiken is then in general use. Buxtehude expanded the program to choir and orchestra, and this took the help of his brother Samuel Frank in claim, the cantor at St. Mary's and the Katharineum to Lübeck was. It is now assumed that up to 80 participating musicians, where Buxtehude Seven Council musicians were buried is free from the city. For optionally become necessary payment of all other he first had to pay themselves. Thus, the organist was the organizer risk; the resulting deficits, however, were regularly covered by private donations and grants from the city.

The Abendmusiken were initially undertaken on Thursdays, but were soon put on the five Sundays before Christmas, where they began by 16 clock.

The events can not be compared with today's concert events operationally. Because of the funding by the Council, the merchant corporations, guilds and donations from the families of the patrician class, the events had an extraordinary inflow from all walks of life, participated according to reports quite a tumultuous history and required the full commitment of the security personnel of the form of the Council Guard the city was turned off at no cost to carry out the Abendmusiken. The sponsors were increased on the rood screen and had so unequivocally improved enjoyment of art with simultaneous overview of the turbulent events in the nave. On the occasion of his visit to Buxtehude in Lübeck in 1705, Johann Sebastian Bach will have participated in the Abendmusiken this year, from this year, the only annually published by Buxtehude text books ( program notes ) has received the Abendmusiken in the city library.

Continuation

Also on Buxtehude following Marie organist Johann Christian Slater (1707-1732), Johann Paul Kunzen (1732-1757), Adolf Karl Kunzen (1757-1781) and Johann Wilhelm Cornelius von Königslöw (1781-1833) continued the evening music and contributed their own compositions on the content of concerts at. However, already occurs under Slater which settles from the work of Buxtehude and no listing more of its musical evenings, a Veroperungsprozess that will be continued by Kunzen. Under v. Königslöw, the first contributes his own compositions, then the Abendmusiken transform themselves in 1791 with a performance of Messiah (1792 ) and Saul (1794 ) by Georg Friedrich Händel more to reproductive switching of oratorios. Also, the church background resigns in favor of secularization, from 1800 the concerts on Fridays in the stock market in City Hall. 1801, the Council limited the annual number of Sunday church music for the whole of Lübeck on only 30 out of a maximum of 1 ½ hours duration, which are assigned to each main churches according to a specified key.

The former popularity of the events is today judged by the fact that the first Lübeck address of 1798, the musical evenings in the organist time v. Königslöws in his Vermischte local notes explicitly lists and describes: "Spiritual oratorios, which the Advent season at five Freytag evenings in the listed stock exchange, and Sunday evening at St. Mary's Church every year, and what then different lyrics and compositions are provided. "

The end

In the follow Buxtehude, the tradition was continuous and unbroken until 1810. She then went out first, not only due to the severe economic conditions by the French period Luebeck, but also by a shift of intellectual interest as a result of the bourgeois Enlightenment.

Resumption in the 20th century

In 1926 the organist Marie Walter took power, the tradition of Abendmusiken as an event and as a composer again. His successor Ernst -Erich Stender performs the Abendmusiken as a concert series in the summer candlelit continues to this day.

Evening music as a drive name

The name " Evening Music" is also used for the occasion of concerts created by Dietrich Buxtehude and his successors works. None of these seem oratorio- like pieces of music by Buxtehude is received - only one not attributable to letztlicher security Buxtehude composition entitled Watch! Gefasset you to the dispute does! (first published in 1939 under the modern title The Last Judgement ) is available. Details in Buxtehude - Werke-Verzeichnis and the organist himself

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