Music for God’s Glory: The Improvisatory Organ Music of Matthias Weckmann (1616 – 1674)

The improvisatory music of German organist-composer Matthias Weckmann (1616 – 1674) has remained largely undervalued and underperformed for almost 400 years, arguably suffering a similar fate as did the works of Johann Sebastian Bach (until Felix Mendelssohn sparked a revived interest in Bach’s music during the early 19th-century). Despite Weckmann’s relative obscurity today, interest in his music is growing. Weckmann studied organ, singing and counterpoint with the famed Heinrich Schütz and Jacob Praetorius II, and was hailed as a “true virtuoso” by contemporary Johann Jakob Froberger after a legendary improvisation contest between the two musicians. This study documents the search for, and deeper understanding of, Weckmann’s improvisatory competencies through exploring the different facets of his life, relationships, and work — and ultimately how Weckmann contributed to the legacy of improvisation within the realm of North German baroque organ music. I document Weckmann’s life, his travels, the influences of his teachers and the breathtakingly beautiful instruments that shaped his artistic style and registrational practice. With a view towards 1) engendering a deeper and more comprehensive stylistic understanding of Weckmann’s music, 2) solving numerous problems of attribution, and 3) laying the groundwork for a new performer’s edition of Weckmann’s Organ Works, the dissertation provides an in-depth analysis of the Free and Chorale-based works. The study frames Weckmann’s genius in terms of his exceptional contrapuntal skill, improvisatory imagination, sensitivity to sacred texts, as well as the creative methods he implemented to maximize exploration of the expressive possibilities of the organ, thereby bringing his diverse set of powerful musical ideas to life.D.M.A