EARLY MUSIC FROM LOW COUNTRIES LIBRARIES
PART III: CHURCH MUSIC, c.1750 - c.1820
On microfiche
The Project
In cooperation with major music research libraries in the Netherlands and Belgium, MMF Publications is making available on microfiche rare musical compositions for the period before 1820 held in various repositories in those countries. Currently there are nine parts of the series available.
Part III: Church music, c.1750 - c.1820
The present microfiche collection aims to make available to musicologists, historians of music, performers and conductors and other interested researchers an excellent cross-section of European church music from the early eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. Church music is among the best preserved repertoires in the history of Western music. Starting in the ninth century such compositions with their musical notation have come down to us in a steady stream. This music is for the most part strictly functional, intended to support the liturgy, which in the West followed the Roman rite. Within the cycle of the ecclesiastical year, each day consisted of the "liturgical moments" of the Mass and the Office.
Each cultural period made its own specific contribution to church music characterized by the musical style and practice of the time. The Reformation, for example, was of crucial importance for Western culture in general and of course also for liturgy and church music. In addition to the Roman Catholic tradition, which was given a new direction by the Council of Trent in the mid-sixteenth century, Lutheranism and Anglicanism were significant for church music. In the Lutheran tradition works were composed based on choral melodies, motets and cantatas. The Anglican contribution was the "Anglican motet", the Anthem. Calvinism, on the other hand, allowed music much less of a role in its services.
Thus in the course of time were composed numerous masses, motets, hymns, magnificats, psalms, anthems and cantatas, many of which have now been filmed on microfiche for this collection. Alongside church music strictly conceived arose a form of spiritual music with no liturgical function, in other words not meant for the church but rather for use as domestic music, for personal devotion, or to be performed in concert, for example, in the form of oratorios (a series by W.G. Hauff, Sr. is presented here).
Church music in the Mozes and Aaron Church in Amsterdam
The main source for the compositions filmed here is the Toonkunst Library in Amsterdam, which since the 1960s has been the repository of the collection of mostly 18th and 19th century church music of the Mozes (Moses) and Aaron church in the same city. This Catholic church originated as a clandestine place of worship in the period when Roman Catholicism was officially not permitted (but practiced in private). With the consecration of the new Mozes and Aaron church in October 1841, it played an increasingly important role in the ecclesiastical musical life of the city. By the early nineteenth century its choir was widely feted under the directorship of Johannes Bernardus van Bree (1801-1857), many of whose compositions are included in the microfiche edition.
Contents of the microfiche collection
In addition to many works by the composers J.B. van Bree and W.G. Hauff, Sr. cited above, the Mozes and Aaron church acquired a great many other compositions by European composers to be performed in Amsterdam. Mention should be made here not only of composers still renowned to this day such as Haydn, Mozart, Cherubini, Hummel, Pergolesi, A. Scarlatti and C.M. von Weber, but also of such in their time celebrated Italian artists as Bartholdi, M. Caldarera, F. Durante, Grimo, P. Guglielmi, N. Jomelli, V. Righini, A. Sacchini, N. Santurini and N. Zingarelli. As a matter of fact, the work of Bartholdi and Grimo is only known to us from the compositions presented in this collection. In addition to the Italians, music by composers from Germany and the Austro-Habsburg Monarchy was also performed, including work by A. André, F.X. and S. Brixi, J. Dreyer, J. Eybler, M. Haydn, L. Kozeluch, J. Myslivecek, J. Naumann, J. Rauscher, F. Roesler, A. Romberg, Ritter von Seyfried, J. Vitacek, G. Vogler and P. von Winter.
Of the other participating libraries in this project, particular mention should be made of the important contribution in the form of French church music made by the Faculty of Letters Library of the University of Utrecht which holds work by, among others, L. Bordèse, J. de Bournonville and A. Campra. These compositions are mainly solo motets (with an occasional example for two or three voices), such as were in use in the French liturgy. The Music Department of the Haags Gemeentemuseum provided the important editions of Händel's church music filmed here.
Also available
Part I: Concertos before 1820
Part II: Orchestral Music before 1820
Part IV: Vocal and Instrumental Tutors
Part V: Historical Organ Collection
Part VI: Vocal Music 1650-1820
Part VII: Keyboard Music 1620-1820
Part VIII: Solo Instrumental Music 1660-1820
Part IX: Ensemble Music 1680-1820