About Misale Rigensis
https://www.lmic.lv/en/composers/-schola-
cantorum-riga-4647#album
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Bucenus [Bucaenus], Paulus
Walter Blankenburg
https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.04229
Published in print: 20 January 2001
Published online: 2001
(b Holstein; fl 1567–84; d ?Riga). German composer. In 1567 he matriculated
at Greifswald University; adjoined to his name was the indication
‘Philorhodus, Holsata’, but it cannot now be determined what place of origin
in Holstein this signified (possibly Rostock). The same document makes clear
that he was already a musician of talent. About 1570 he became Kantor at
the Gymnasium at Thorn (now Toruń, Poland) and by 1576 was Kantor of
Riga Cathedral, where he was also very active as a composer.
Bucenus composed a six-part Passio Domini Jesu Christi (Stettin, 1578, inc.).
His work and a Passion by Ludwig Daser published in the same year are the
last Lutheran settings to Latin words; like those of Balthasar Resinarius and
Johannes Galliculus they used a composite version rather than the words of a
single gospel. Bucenus set the opening and closing choruses, the Saviour’s
words and the Evangelist’s narration all in six parts, and this may be the
reason for Kadès’ faulting it as unexpressive. In 1583–4 Bucenus assembled
a large, two-volume collection of his music, Tomi musici operis ecclesiae
rigensis. The first volume, Cantiones … ad tria contrapuncti genera
accomodatae musicis instrumentis scholisque aptissimae decantatae, for
four to six voices, contains over 100 motets on texts from the Old and New
Testaments, among them many dedicatory pieces. The second volume
begins with 24 parody and cantus firmus masses (‘Missae aliquot … ad
clarissimorum musicorum motetas et sacros quosdam tenores
accomodatae’), for four, five, six and eight voices; the second section
(‘Preces vespertinae’) consists of numerous responsories and hymns,
and Magnificat settings in all the tones. Some of Bucenus’s compositions also
appeared in a large anthology compiled by Paul Praetorius, Kantor of Stettin
from 1579 to 1587, but only the list of contents survives.
Although Bucenus’s work has yet to be studied in detail, it is evident that he
was a fluent, gifted and orderly composer of church music. The dedicatory
compositions show that he was an educated humanist and that he was held
in high regard.
Bibliography
O. Kade: Die ältere Passionskomposition bis zum Jahre
1631 (Gütersloh, 1893/R)
G. von Keussler: Paulus Bucaenus (Riga, 1931)
M. Ruhnke: Beiträge zu einer Geschichte der deutschen
Hofmusikkollegien im 16. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1963)
K.W. Niemöller: Untersuchungen zu Musikpflege und Musikunterricht
an den deutschen Lateinschulen vom ausgehenden Mittelalter bis
um 1600 (Regensburg, 1969)
G. Pietzsch: Zur Pflege der Musik an den deutschen Universitäten
bis zur Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts (Hildesheim, 1971) [repr. of articles
pubd in AMf (1936–43)]
Veichtner [Feichtner], Franz Adam
Geoffrey Norris
, revised by Klaus-Peter Koch
https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.29117
Published in print: 20 January 2001
Published online: 2001
(b Regensburg, bap. Feb 10, 1741; d Klievenhof, Courland [now Kalnciems,
Latvia], March 3, 1822). German violinist and composer. The son of a violin
maker, Johann Georg Veichtner, he attended the Jesuit school in Regensburg,
where he studied music theory with Joseph Riepel, and studied the violin with
Franz Benda at Potsdam. He entered the service of Count Hermann von
Keyserling, and in 1763 travelled to Königsberg, where he met and taught
the young J.F. Reichardt. In 1765 Veichtner was appointed Konzertmeister to
the Courland court of the hereditary prince Peter von Biron at Mitau (now
Jelgava), and at this time wrote his first published compositions, including
several symphonies, a violin concerto and a series of choral pieces
celebrating events at court. The four-movement Simphonie russienne,
composed in 1770, is the earliest symphonic work on Russian folksong
themes to survive complete. He composed three Singspiele for the court’s
amateur theatre which earned him much praise (Journal von und für
Deutschland, Ellrich, April 1784, p.460); Cephalus und Prokris had its
première in Riga in 1779 and was produced in Berlin a year
later. Veichtner became one of the leading figures in the musical life of
Courland during the late 18th century. Among his pupils was the Courlander
K.F. Amenda, later a friend of Beethoven. He probably visited Italy twice
(c1785 and c1795). After Courland lost its independence
in 1795 Veichtner settled in St Petersburg, where in 1798 he was engaged as
a musician in the first court orchestra. He composed some violin music in
Russia, and left in manuscript a Te Deum, which was first performed by the
St Petersburg Philharmonic Society on 19 March 1818. In 1820 he retired to
Klievenhof.
Veichtner's brother Michael Veichtner was also active as a violinist and bass
viol player in Mitau. Among his descendants, his son Heinrich
Konstantin Veichtner (1785–1816) was a chamber musician in St Petersburg,
his daughter Benigma Gottlieb married the Hamburg violinist Johann
Gottfried Hartmann, and his grandson Konstantin Veichtner (1808–77) was a
chorister in Tartu.
Works
full list in Gercken
Vocal
Singspiele
Scipio (C.F. Neander), Mitau, 30 June 1778, lost
Cephalus und Prokris (K.W. Ramler), Riga, 16 Feb 1779
(Berlin, 1779)
Cyrus und Cassandana (2, Ramler), Libau, 15 Feb
1784, LV-J
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Choral (mostly lost)
Die erste Feier der Himmelfahrt Jesu (orat, Neander),
Mitau, 1787
Hymne an Gott (Erfurt, 1787)
Mass, D, A-Wgm; TeD, St Petersburg, ?1818
other secular cants., hymns, songs, 1765–c1787
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Instrumental
Orchestral
4 syms. (Mitau, 1770)
Simphonie russienne (Riga,
1771)
Vn Conc., 1771 (Riga, 1775)
2 divertimentos (Berlin, n.d.)
2 concs., ob, mentioned in
Mooser
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Chamber
3 str qts (St Petersburg, c1796–9), as op.3 (Berlin,
1802)
6 sonates, vn, vc (St Petersburg, c1797)
24 fantaisies, vn, b, op.7 (Leipzig, c1815)
6 sonates, vn, b, op.8 (Leipzig, c1815)
Air russe varié, suivi d’un caprice, op.9
(Leipzig, c1815), lost
Solo, C, vn, b, lost
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Bibliography
EitnerQ
GerberL
GerberNL
MooserA
SchillingE
J. Döring: ‘Biographische Notizen über den Musiker Fr.
A. Veichtner’, Sitzungsbericht der kurländischen Gesellschaft für
Literatur und Kunst (Mitau, 1870), 43–7
E. Gercken: ‘Franz Adam Veichtner und das Musikleben am kurländischen
Hof’, Baltische Hefte, 11 (1964–5), 99–129
J. Müller-Blattau: ‘Benda, Veichtner, Reichardt, Amenda: zur Geschichte des
nordostdeutschen Violinspiels in der Frühklassik’, Musik des Ostens, 4
(1967), 177–84
E. Stöckl: ‘Franz Adam Veichtners “Simphonie russienne” (1771)’, Musik des
Ostens, 11 (1989), 169–85
Müthel, Johann Gottfried
Lothar Hoffmann-Erbrecht
, revised by Regula Rapp
https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.19479
Published in print: 20 January 2001
Published online: 2001
(b Mölln, Lauenburg, Jan 17, 1728; d Bienenhof, nr Riga, July 14,
1788). German composer. He received his earliest musical instruction from
his father, Christian Caspar Müthel, organist at the Nikolaikirche in Mölln, and
was later taught by Johann Paul Kunzen in Lübeck. At the age of 19 he
became a chamber musician and organist at the court of Mecklenburg-
Schwerin under Duke Christian Ludwig II. A year’s leave of absence
allowed Müthel to go to Leipzig in the spring of 1750 to visit ‘the famous
Capellmeister and Music-Director Bach … in order to perfect himself in his
profession’, as an accompanying letter from his employer stated. Bach was
already ill at this time, and it is not known what kind of teaching he was able
to give Müthel. After Bach’s death on 28 July 1750, Müthel left for a study
tour, visiting J.C. Altnickol in Naumburg, Hasse in Dresden, C.P.E. Bach in
Potsdam and Telemann in Hamburg; he was also active as a copyist during
this period. In 1753, through the good offices of his brother, he obtained the
post of Kapellmeister to the Russian privy councillor O.H. von Vietinghoff in
Riga; he was appointed organist of the principal church of Riga in 1767. His
friends and admirers in Riga included J.G. Herder. Müthel, who was also
highly regarded as a keyboard virtuoso, never seems to have left Riga again;
almost nothing is known about his later life.
Müthel's output is small, and both musically and technically his keyboard
works are the most demanding part of it. However, fewer of the works in the
Pretlack Collection (now in D-B; see Jaenecke), seem to be by Müthel than
was originally thought. For instance, C.F. Schale is named elsewhere as
composer of the two harpsichord concertos preserved there (see the
Kritischer Bericht to the first volume of Wilhelm’s edition of organ
works, 1982). The extract from a letter by Müthel which occurs in the
German translation (1773/R) of Burney’s The Present State of Music in
Germany, the Netherlands, and United Provinces should therefore be taken
seriously, although it sounds like a typical effusion of the ars poetica of
the Sturm und Drang period: ‘I have devised many a piece when in good
humour and a cheerful mood, but only in outline, and the pieces await a
happy disposition of my mind for further work to be done, for I do not care to
work when I am not disposed to it. And that true cheerfulness of mind I
require to work visits me only rarely’. Particularly in the inner movements of
his compositions, Müthel’s characteristic originality watchword gave rise to
rhythmically striking motifs and phrases, abrupt changes of dynamics, and
other expressive means, all in the service of individual self-expression. His
style has something in common with the styles of C.P.E. Bach and other
experimentally minded composers of his generation. Burney wrote of him:
‘The style of this composer more resembles that of Emanuel Bach, than any
other. But the passages are entirely his own, and reflect as much honour
upon his head as his hand’.
Works
Hpd concs.
2 (Riga and Mitau, 1767), 6, D-B; ed. in Denkmäler norddeutscher Musik, iii–iv
(Munich, 1979), 1 transcr. in TCMS, iv (1988–90)
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Other concs.
1 for bn, D-B; 1 for 2 bn,
str, D-B
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Keyboard
3 sonates et 2 ariosi avec 12 variations, hpd (Nuremburg, 1756), ed. in
Mitteldeutsches Musikarchiv, 1st ser., vi–vii (Leipzig and Wiesbaden, 1955)
Duetto, E♭, 2 kbd (Riga, 1771), ed. in NM, clxxvi (1954)
6 sonatas, hpd, D-B, some doubtful, 2 ed. in Organum, 5th ser., xxix (1961),
xxxiii (1964)
8 sonatas, D-B, doubtful; Duetto, C, 2 kbd, D-B; technical exercises, incl.
fantasy ed. in Mw, xliii (1971), chorales, prelude, fugue frags., fantasias,
org, D-B, some ed. R. Wilhelm (Innsbruck and Neu-Rum, 1982–5)
other hpd pieces, D-B, some doubtful
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Other
Auserlesene Oden und Lieder (Hamburg, 1759)
Cant. auf die Einweihung der neuen Orgel zu Parchim, SWl; Trinklied, 4vv, D-
B; Sonata, fl, bc, D-B; Canon, Dl
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Bibliography
BurneyGN; GerberL; Grove6 (L. Hoffmann-Erbrecht); MGG1 (L. Hoffmann-
Erbrecht)
Review of concertos, Wöchentliche Nachrichten und Anmerkungen
die Musik betreffend, ed. J.A. Hiller, 2 (Leipzig, 1767/R), 178 only
R. Sietz: ‘Die Orgelkompositionen des Schülerkreises um Johann Sebastian
Bach’, BJb, 32 (1935), 33–96 esp. 64
L. Hoffmann-Erbrecht: ‘Sturm und Drang in der deutschen Klaviermusik von
1753–1763’, Mf, 10 (1957), 466–79
W. Salmen: ‘Johann Gottfried Müthel, der letzte Schüler Bachs’, Festschrift
Heinrich Besseler, ed. E. Klemm (Leipzig, 1961), 351–9
E. Stam: ‘Die von Wolfgang Reich veröffentlichten unbekannten Kanons J.S.
Bachs und J.G. Müthels’, Mf, 21 (1968), 317–22
E. Kemmler: Johann Gottfried Müthel (1728–1788) und das
nordostdeutsche Musikleben seiner Zeit (Marburg, 1970)
J. Jaenecke: Die Musikbibliothek des Ludwig Freiherrn von Pretlack
(1716–1781) (Wiesbaden, 1973)
R.N. Bukoff: ‘The Concerto in E-flat for Two Bassoons by Johann
(1984); repr. 〈www.idrs.org〉
Gottfried Müthel’, Journal of the International Double Reed Society, 12
P. Reidemeister: ‘Johann Gottfried Müthels “Technische Übungen”, oder Von
der Mehrdeutigkeit der Quellen’, Basler Jb für historische Musikpraxis,
13 (1989), 55–98
R. Rapp: Johann Gottfried Müthels Konzerte für Tasteninstrument
und Streicher (Munich and Salzburg, 1992)
L. Hoffmann-Erbrecht: ‘Johann Gottfried Müthels Klavierkonzert in B-
dur’, Neues musikwissenschaftliches Jb, 5 (1996), 93–101
