(German for "evening music", plural ') usually refers to a series of musical concert held in the
St. Mary's Church, Lübeck ('), Germany, begun in the 17th century and lasting until the early 19th century. Most of the music for these occasions, composed by
Franz Tunder
Franz Tunder (1614 – November 5, 1667) was a German composer and organist of the early to middle Baroque era. He was an important link between the early German Baroque style which was based on Venetian models, and the later Baroque style ...
,
Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude (; ; born Diderik Hansen Buxtehude; c. 1637 – 9 May 1707) was a Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal a ...
, and their successors, has been lost. Modern usage of term may also refer to any concerts in a church.
History
The exact origins are uncertain. C. Ruetz, then cantor and the Marienkirche, wrote a first detailed study in 1752, where he could, based on his own memories, only trace back the practice to that of the organist entertaining business people on Thursdays, before the opening of the stock exchange, a practice which was also present in other trading cities such as Amsterdam or Copenhagen. It is most likely that this began during the tenure of
Franz Tunder
Franz Tunder (1614 – November 5, 1667) was a German composer and organist of the early to middle Baroque era. He was an important link between the early German Baroque style which was based on Venetian models, and the later Baroque style ...
, who was
organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
at the from 1641 to 1667: Tunder referred to revenue received from an "''Abendspiel''" in a letter dated January 11, 1646. Encouraged by these fees, he later came to add further instrumental and vocal soloists, but it is under his successor
Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude (; ; born Diderik Hansen Buxtehude; c. 1637 – 9 May 1707) was a Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal a ...
(organist at Lübeck from 1668 until 1707), that these concerts came to prominence.
[Snyder, 1994]
Already in 1669, Buxtehude had significantly expanded the required forces to include orchestra and chorus, necessitating the construction of additional galleries to have enough space for the about 40 performers. The first occurrence of the term dates from 1673, when Buxtehude (in his dual function as administrator of the church and organist) noted the purchase of trumpets "" ("for the ornementation of the ''Abendt Music''"). Begun as programmes of assorted choral works, the ''Abendmusiken'' first included a dramatic oratorio in 1678, when Buxtehude programmed ''Die Hochzeit des Lamms'', a two-part work combining biblical text with chorales and assorted poetry,
[Snyder, 1994] likely performed on two successive Sundays.
At the latest by 1684, Buxtehude had also moved the performances to the evenings of the two final Sundays of Trinity and the second, third and fourth Sundays of Advent. Two oratorios, ''Himmlische Seelenlust auf Erden'' and ''Das Allerschröcklichste und Allererfreulichste'', both in five parts, with the first one described as being in the opera style, with arias and ritornellos, were advertised for publication that year. The division in five parts would remain standard practice for the remainder of the ''Abendmusiken''.
[Snyder, 1994]
Financed by the local business community, the performances offered free admission, although donors were rewarded with better seating and printed librettos. Disorderly conduct was a frequent problem, requiring the intervention of municipal guards to maintain order. Starting in 1752,
Johann Kunzen began charging admission to dress-rehearsals on Fridays, held in the hall of the stock exchange. With time, these became the more prestigious ones. Sunday performances were abolished in 1800, and the series was finally halted in 1810 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars.
In modern times, the term has been used as a generic term to refer to concerts in a church.
Extant compositions
Much of the ''Abendmusiken'' have not survived to the 21st century. The only two examples remaining which were performed for these occasions with certitude are
Adolf Kunzen’s ''Moses in seinem Eifer gegen die Abgötterey in den Wüsten'' and ''Absalon''. ''Wacht! Euch zum Streit'', published in 1939 as a work by Buxtehude, is of dubious authenticity and is of anonymous origin in manuscripts. Further works by Kunzen and
von Königslöw were lost during World War II.
[Snyder, 2001]
References
{{reflist
Sources
*
Apel, Willi, ed. ''The Harvard Dictionary of Music'', 2nd ed. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard UP, 1972.
*
Snyder, Kerala J.,
Abendmusik, ''Grove Music Online'', 2001.
*
Snyder, Kerala J.,
Abendmusik, in Lütteken, Laurenz (ed.), ''
Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart
''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik (MGG)'' is one of the world's most comprehensive encyclopedias of music history and musicology, on account of its scope, content, wealth of research areas, and reference t ...
'', Kassel/Stuttgart/New York, 1994
nline ed. 2016 (in German)
Concerts
Culture in Lübeck