Musicalische Ergötzung
Encyclopedia
Musicalische Ergötzung is a collection of chamber music
by Johann Pachelbel
. Published during his lifetime, it contains six suite
s for two violin
s and basso continuo.
The exact circumstances of the German
-titled work's publication are unknown. The only extant copy of the original print was published in or after 1699 in Nuremberg
, by Johann Christoph Weigel, a publisher who also issued several other works by Pachelbel. Yet Johann Mattheson
, writing some decades after Pachelbel's death, claimed that Musicalische Ergötzung was first published in 1691.
The collection contains six parties, or suites:
It is worth noting that these are not the exact titles in the original published edition but "normalized" into a more modern international terminology. For example, in the original German edition, "Chaconne" was spelled "Ciacona", "Gigue" as "Gigg", "Courante" as "Courant", etc.
The technique of scordatura
(alternative tuning used for the open strings) is applied to the violin parts of all suites, but, unlike contemporary composers such as Heinrich Ignaz Biber
, Pachelbel used it sparingly, not to produce special effects but to teach the amateur performers (for whom the work was probably intended) the basics of this technique.
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
by Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most...
. Published during his lifetime, it contains six suite
Suite
In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
s for two violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s and basso continuo.
The exact circumstances of the German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
-titled work's publication are unknown. The only extant copy of the original print was published in or after 1699 in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, by Johann Christoph Weigel, a publisher who also issued several other works by Pachelbel. Yet Johann Mattheson
Johann Mattheson
Johann Mattheson was a German composer, writer, lexicographer, diplomat and music theorist.Mattheson was born and died in Hamburg. He was a close friend of George Frideric Handel, although he nearly killed him in a sudden quarrel, during a performance of Mattheson's opera Cleopatra in 1704...
, writing some decades after Pachelbel's death, claimed that Musicalische Ergötzung was first published in 1691.
The collection contains six parties, or suites:
- Partie I in F major: Sonata (Allegro) – AllemandeAllemandeAn allemande is one of the most popular instrumental dance forms in Baroque music, and a standard element of a suite...
– CouranteCouranteThe courante, corrente, coranto and corant are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era....
– Ballet – SarabandeSarabandeIn music, the sarabande is a dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of quarter notes and eighth notes in alternation...
– GigueGigueThe gigue or giga is a lively baroque dance originating from the British jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th century and usually appears at the end of a suite... - Partie II in C minor: Sonata – GavotteGavotteThe gavotte originated as a French folk dance, taking its name from the Gavot people of the Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné, where the dance originated. It is notated in 4/4 or 2/2 time and is of moderate tempo...
– Trezza – Aria – Sarabande – Gigue - Partie III in E-flat major: Sonata (Allegro) – Allemande – Courante – Gavotte – Sarabande – Gigue
- Partie IV in E minor: Sonata (Adagio) – Aria – Courante – Aria – ChaconneChaconneA chaconne ; is a type of musical composition popular in the baroque era when it was much used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and...
- Partie V in C major: Sonata – Aria – Trezza – Chaconne
- Partie VI in B-flat major: Sonata (Adagio) – Aria – Courante – Gavotte – Sarabande – Gigue
It is worth noting that these are not the exact titles in the original published edition but "normalized" into a more modern international terminology. For example, in the original German edition, "Chaconne" was spelled "Ciacona", "Gigue" as "Gigg", "Courante" as "Courant", etc.
The technique of scordatura
Scordatura
A scordatura , also called cross-tuning, is an alternative tuning used for the open strings of a string instrument, in which the notes indicated in the score would represent the finger position as if played in regular tuning, while the actual pitch is altered...
(alternative tuning used for the open strings) is applied to the violin parts of all suites, but, unlike contemporary composers such as Heinrich Ignaz Biber
Heinrich Ignaz Biber
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber von Bibern was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. Born in the small Bohemian town of Wartenberg , Biber worked at Graz and Kroměříž before he illegally left his Kroměříž employer and settled in Salzburg...
, Pachelbel used it sparingly, not to produce special effects but to teach the amateur performers (for whom the work was probably intended) the basics of this technique.