Johann Adam Reincken (also ''Jan Adams, Jean Adam'', ''Reinken, Reinkinck, Reincke, Reinicke, Reinike'';

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

10 December 1643 – 24 November 1722) was a Dutch/German

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 ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. He was one of the most important composers of the 17th century, a friend of

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 ...

and a major influence on

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

; however, very few of his works survive to this day.

Life

The widespread claims about Reincken's exceptional longevity stem from Johann Mattheson, who, writing in 1722, gave his date of birth as 27 April 1623. However, Reincken himself stated (on the title page of ''Hortus musicus'') that his birthplace was

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, bu ...

, and no records were found there to support Mattheson's claim. A "Jan Reinse" was baptized in Deventer on 10 December 1643; this is the date currently accepted by most scholars, although it is in many ways as problematic as that given by Mattheson. Reincken received primary music education in Deventer in 1650–1654, from Lucas van Lennick, organist of the Grote kerk (Lebuinuskerk). In 1654 he departed for Hamburg to study under

Heinrich Scheidemann Heinrich Scheidemann (ca. 1595 – 1663) was a German organist and composer. He was the best-known composer for the organ in north Germany in the early to mid-17th century, and was an important forerunner of Dieterich Buxtehude and J.S. Ba ...

, a pupil of

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck ( ; April or May, 1562 – 16 October 1621) was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. He was among the first major keyboard compo ...

, organist of St. Katharine's Church (''Katharinenkirche''). In 1657 he returned to Deventer and became organist of the Bergkerk on 11 March; however, after only a year he left for Hamburg again, this time to become Scheidemann's assistant. When the older composer died in 1663, Reincken succeeded him at St. Katharine's. In 1665 he married one of Scheidemann's daughters, and their only child Margaretha-Maria was born three years later. The composer kept his position at St. Katharine's until his death in 1722, although in 1705 some of the church elders attempted to appoint

Johann Mattheson Johann Mattheson (28 September 1681 – 17 April 1764) was a German composer, singer, writer, lexicographer, diplomat and music theorist. Early life and career The son of a prosperous tax collector, Mattheson received a broad liberal education ...

as Reincken's successor. Unlike many other contemporary organists, Reincken died wealthy. In his lifetime he was heralded as one of the best organists in Germany; he knew

closely and influenced

Vincent Lübeck Vincent Lübeck (c. September 1654 – 9 February 1740) was a German composer and organist. He was born in Padingbüttel and worked as organist and composer at Stade's St. Cosmae et Damiani (1675–1702) and Hamburg's famous St. Nikolai (1702–1 ...

and

. A well-known anecdote tells of Bach's visit to Hamburg in 1720, and how Reincken after hearing Bach improvise a lengthy fantasia on the

Lutheran chorale A Lutheran chorale is a musical setting of a Lutheran hymn, intended to be sung by a congregation in a German Protestant Church service. The typical four-part setting of a chorale, in which the sopranos (and the congregation) sing the melody al ...

An Wasserflüssen Babylon "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" (By the rivers of Babylon) is a Lutheran hymn by Wolfgang Dachstein, which was first published in Strasbourg in 1525. The text of the hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 137. Its singing tune, which is the best known part of ...

" (paying homage to Reincken's massive fantasia on the same chorale), remarked,"I thought that this art was dead, but I see that it lives in you."

Christoph Wolff Christoph Wolff (born 24 May 1940) is a German musicologist. He is best known for his works on the music, life, and period of Johann Sebastian Bach. Christoph Wolff is an emeritus professor of Harvard University, and was part of the faculty sinc ...

adds a further detail, that on the same occasion Bach performed his organ fugue BWV 542, the theme of which is based on a Dutch popular tune (called 'Ik ben gegroet van...'), presumably as an homage to Reincken's Dutch origin. Evidently the young Sebastian Bach had been deeply impressed by Reincken's music, for he arranged several of the works from Reincken's ''Hortus musicus'' (as BWV 954, 965 and 966). In 2006, the earliest known Bach autograph was discovered in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

. It proved to be a copy of Reincken's ''An Wasserflüssen Babylon'', which Bach made for his then teacher

Georg Böhm Georg Böhm (2 September 1661 – 18 May 1733) was a German Baroque organist and composer. He is notable for his development of the chorale partita and for his influence on the young J. S. Bach. Life Böhm was born in 1661 in Hohenkirchen. He ...

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also calle ...

in 1700.

Stuhr Ansicht Hamburgs von Südwesten Detail

List of works

Keyboard

* Chorale fantasia ''

'' * Chorale fantasia ''Was kann uns kommen an für Not'' * Variations on ''Schweiget mir von Weibernehmen (la Meyerin)'' (Amsterdam, c. 1710) * Variations on ''Holländische Nachtigahl'' (Amsterdam, c. 1710) * ''Ballett'' with Variations (Amsterdam, c. 1710) * Toccata in G major * Toccata in G minor (doubtful) * Toccata quasi Fantasia con Fuge in A major, (doubtful) * Fugue in G minor (spurious) * 8 harpsichord suites * ''Musicalischer Clavierschatz del J.A. Reincken'' (1702, lost)

Other instrumental

* ''Hortus Musicus'' (1688), 6 sonatas and suites for 2 violins, viola da gamba and

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

* ''Sonaten, Concertaten, Allemanden, Correnten, Sarabanden und Chiguen'' (1704), for 2 violins and harpsichord (lost)

Canons

* ''Was Gott thut, das ist wohl getan'' * ''Canon a 3 voci in Hypodiapason per Augmentationem''

Notes

References

* * * Wolff, Christoph, "Johan Sebastian Bach; The Learned Musician" (W.W. Norton & Co, New York, 2000)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reincken, Johann Adam 1643 births 1722 deaths 18th-century German composers 18th-century classical composers 18th-century keyboardists 18th-century German male musicians German Baroque composers German male classical composers German classical organists German male organists Composers for pipe organ Organists and composers in the North German tradition Male classical organists