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February 2004 Program Notes
Abendmusik
by Mary Burke
Tonight's program is an Abendmusik, which translates literally into the unrevealing phrase "evening music" or "evening concert." In 17th-century Germany, however, the word came to mean something quite specific: a series of free public concerts given regularly at the Marienkirche in the northern city of Lübeck. The Abendmusiken rapidly grew into a cultural institution, and attracted visitors from all over the country until the Napoleonic Wars brought them to an end in 1810.
The Abendmusiken did not begin life with any great fanfare or sense of purpose—the series seems simply to have grown like Topsy over a period of years. Caspar Ruetz (1708-1755), another Lübeck musician, researched its origins "for a long time, but in vain." But even if we cannot pinpoint the birth of the Abendmusiken, we can identify the rather unlikely midwife: the Lübeck stock exchange.
Stock exchanges in the 16th and 17th centuries bore little resemblance to the cacophonous, adrenaline-soaked snakepits that we know today. At that time, a stock exchange might look more like a farmer's market, held in the open air or under small shelters; or it might convene in a private home, a church, or a coffeehouse (which is how the London exchange got its start). Exchanges existed in dozens of trade centers all over Europe, especially in the commercially oriented cities of the Hanseatic League, of which Lübeck was the headquarters.
The Lübeck exchange, founded in 1605, met in the square adjacent to the Marienkirche for many years, and history (i.e. Ruetz) informs us that the traders got into the habit of gathering at the church before the day's business began, where the organist would play for them. Some of the wealthier members considered this entertainment important and enjoyable enough to reward the performer with some cash; and then, as Ruetz reports, "The organist was thus inspired to bring in a few violins at first, then to add some singers, until finally it grew into a sizable concert."
Church records suggest that these larger-scale concerts were taking place as early as 1646, during the tenure of Franz Tunder (1614-1667) at the Marienkirche. He may or may not have been the original architect of the series, but his successor, the brilliant organist Dietrich Buxtehude (ca. 1637-1707), certainly perfected it. Under Buxtehude, the Abendmusiken were moved from Thursdays to Sundays, and then to five particular Sundays around the Advent season. The concerts unfortunately grew popular enough to draw hooligans; Ruetz reports that the series was suspended briefly due to "riots," and security guards had to be brought in. The fame of the series (and of Buxtehude himself) also brought visits from other musicians, most notably the young J.S. Bach, who in 1705 walked and hitchhiked some 200 miles from Arnstadt to learn from the master and hear his concerts. He may even have participated in them.
And what could an audience expect to hear at an Abendmusik in the 17th century? There would have been one or more solo organ pieces, interspersed with other small-scale instrumental and vocal works, usually motets and short Italian-style cantatas with a few instruments. Tunder, like Buxtehude, wrote both solo and ensemble music for the concerts, but works by other composers also appeared on the programs. Buxtehude began the practice of writing oratorio-type works in five sections that were spread out across the entire sequence of concerts, which became the norm for the remainder of the series' existence.
Our Abendmusik includes works by a number of prominent German composers whose careers spanned the entire 17th century. In these pieces we can hear the clarity and quiet warmth that characterize German devotional music of the period. We also hear the beginnings of the "classic" German church cantata, which reached its zenith with Bach and Telemann.
However and whenever they began, the Lübeck Abendmusiken inspired sublime accomplishments from generations of composers, and played an important role in the process of making concerts accessible to the average citizen. And to think that it all started with some bored stockbrokers!
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