Weckmann, Matthias
Weckmann, Matthias
Weckmann, Matthias , distinguished German organist and composer; b. Niederdorla, near Muhlhausen, Thuringia, c. 1619; d. Hamburg, Feb. 24, 1674. He was the son of a clergyman and organist. He was a chorister in the Dresden court chapel, where he was a pupil of Heinrich Schütz. In 1633 Weckmann was sent to Hamburg for further study with Reinken, Jakob Praetorius, and H. Scheidemann, by whom he was trained in the organ method of Sweelinck. In 1637 Weckmann became organist at the Dresden electoral chapel, and in 1642 he was made director of the court chapel in Nykobing, Denmark. He then resumed his Dresden post in 1647, where he became a friend of J. J. Froberger; in 1655 he went to Hamburg as organist at the Jacobikirche, and in 1660 founded, with Christoph Bernhard, the Collegium Musicum, a concert society for the performance of new works (it was discontinued after Weckmann’s death). Among his extant works are 13 accompanied vocal compositions, 9 songs, 9 sonatas a 4, 2 sonatas a 3, and a few keyboard pieces. See M. Seiffert, ed., Denkmäler Deutscher Tonkunst, VI (1901), and Matthias Weckmann: Vierzehn Praeludien, Fugen und Toccaten, Organum, 4th series, III (Leipzig, 1925); also G. ligner, ed., Matthias Weckmann: Gesammelte Werke, Das Erbe Deutscher Musik, 2nd series, IV (1942).
Bibliography
G. ligner, M. W. Sein Leben und seine Werke (Wolfenbüttel and Berlin, 1939); H. Davidson, M. W.: The Interpretation of His Organ Music (3 vols., Stockholm, 1991-93).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire