Release Date: 03 January 2002
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313585724
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: BOHM
Description
Georg Böhm (1661-1733)Organ Works, Volume 1Georg Böhm was born in Hohenkirchen, near Orhrdruf in Thuringia, in 1661. His early musical training was from his father, who was a schoolmaster and organist in Ernstroda and, from 1660, in Hohenkirchen. After the death of his father in 1675 he continued his education at the Lateinschule in Goldbach until 1678, when he moved to the Gymnasium at Gotha. In 1684 he matriculated at the University of Jena. By 1693 he was in Hamburg, where, by 1697, three of his children had been baptized. Very little is known regarding his employment, musical or otherwise, during these years, but it was here that he seems first to have been exposed to French musical style in the works of Kusser, a pupil of Lully, who directed many French and Italian works at the opera. In 1698 the organist Christian Flor died, and the position of organist of the Johanniskirche in Lüneburg became available. Böhm applied for this important appointment and was the unanimous choice, holding this position until his death in 1733. In 1704 he sought to augment his income by seeking a further position as organist at the Marienkirche, instead of which he was granted an increase in salary. In 1711 he wrote a setting of the Passion according to St Luke, now lost, for the city council, and in 1729 and 1730 composed a number of funeral cantatas, which have not survived, although cantatas for other occasions are preserved. It was in Lüneburg that it is possible that the twelve-year-old Johann Sebastian Bach, at school in near-by Ohrdruf from 1700 to 1702, may have visited him. Whether Böhm actually taught Bach or not is not certain, but it is clear that Böhm’s works, particularly the compositions based on chorales had a strong influence on Bach’s writing in later years. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Sebastian’s second son, later referred to Böhm as his father’s teacher. In his free compositions Böhm follows North German forms, alternating fantasias with conservative fugal writing and dance movements. The Prelude and Fugue in C major, after the opening flourish, offers an extended passage for the pedals, followed by Italian cori spezzati statements. The four-voice fugue, as in the case of so many in this period, is based on a simple dominant-octave relationship, yet Böhm is still able to surprise with bold key changes and dramatic false cadences, ending with a typical toccata-passaggio conclusion. Böhm’s genius is best seen in the chorale partitas. The form, an innovation by Böhm, is a by-product of the seventeenth-century secular Partita fused with the sacred Chorale Variation. This new form generally presents the cantus firmus, on which the work is based, in its original form, and most often in the soprano voice. Such diverse works demand highly colourful and contrasting registers of the organ, to be heard independently, or in duo. Ach wie nichtig, ach wie fl
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Various
Various
Lully
