DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

HAMMERSCHMIDT HANDEL 279
' 5. Musicalische AncJachten," part iii.. with the sub-title 'Geiat-
Uche Syinphouien.' 1W2. containing thirty-one pieces for one and
,two voices, with obbliyjito parts for two viulina aiid riola besides
basso continuo. In these works Hammerschmidt takes Schlitz as
his iiiodel. Winterleld says of them, that if he is inferior to Scliiitz
in grandeur of conception, he stirpasses him in a certain elegance
ajid la-ace. and in the smoothness of his p;trt-writing.
6 Weltliehe Oden odcr Liebesgesiinge,' parts i. and ii., 16-1'2-J:j,
secular pieces for one to three voices, with instrumental accompan;
lent.
' 7, anil 8. Dialogi oder Gesprache zwischen Gott und einer
gliiuliigen Seele' (Dialogues between God and a faithful soul). Two
parts. Dresden, 1645.
This work opened a new vein in sacred composition.
Bible or chorale texts are so chosen
as to give occasion to a certain dramatic contrast
of the voices, thus for instance, texts of prayer
or complaint, sung by one or two voices, are
immediately followed or accompanied by answering
texts of promise or comfort, sung by another
voice, We are familiar with the later use of
this device in the Chnivb Cantatas of Sebastian
Bach, It must be admitted that in Hammerschmidt
tl^ere is little contrast of musical
expression, and the musical development is but
slight, but there is enough of quiet devotional
expression. Some of the pieces are introduced
by short instrumental symphonies (two violins
with tronibone and basso continuo). The first
part of these ' Dialogues ' contains twentj'-two
pieces, 10 a 2, 10^3, and 2 a 4.; some with Latin
words. It has recently been republished in
modern score in the Denlnnaler dcr Tonkunst
in Oestcrreich, Jahrgang viii. The second part
consists of twelve settings of Opitz's verse translations
from the Song of Solomon, for one and
two voices, with accompaniment of two violins
and bass, followed by three so-called arias, not
arias in the later sense, but in the sense in which
Bach uses the word as in his motet ' Komm,
Jesu, komm.'
9. ' Musicaiische Andachten,' part iv. 1I546, with the sub-title.
'GeistlicheMotettenundConcerten.'ijaplying that the inatni merits
indicitted may be used for the most part ad libitHin. This work
contains forty pieces, 4 a 5, 8 a C, 5 a 7, 15 a 8. 3 a y, 2 a 10, 3 a 12.
10. In 1&49 appeared a third part of Odea and Madrigals, sacred
and secnlar, for one to five voices, with biLsso continuo.
11. Twenty Latin motets for one and two voices, with accom-
paniment. 1649.
' 12. iluaicalische Andachten,' part v. 16.^2-53, with the sub-title
'Chor-muaik,' contains thirty-one pieces a 5 and 6 'in Madrigalman
ier.'
' 13. Musicalische Gesprache tiber die Sonntags- und Fest-Evangelia,'
Dresden, 1655-56. This work [.akes up again the fona of the
Dialogi of 16-15, and makes much use of the interweaving of Chorale
and Biblical texts. It is in two parts, and contiiins altogether
sixty-one pieces for four to seven voices, with an increased instrumental
accompaniment (flutesand trumpets occasionally employed).
14. Test- Buss- und Dank-Lieder,' 1658. Thirty-two hymns for
five voices and five instrumental parts aJ, libitum.
From this work come most of the simple
chorale-tnnes by Hammerschmidt, still in use
in the Lutheran Church, sucli as ' Meinen Jesum
lass ich nicht,' ' Hosianna David's Sohn,' ' Meine
Seele Gott erhebet,' etc. Besides these he had
already ]>rovided thirty-eight tunes for Johann
Eist's ' Katechismus- Andachten,' and ten others
for Rist's ' Himmlische Lieder,' which, however,
never came into general use.
15. 'Kirchen- und Tafel-Mnsik' fChurch and Chamber - Music)
'darinneii 1,2, 3 V^cal und 4, 5, 6 instrumental- stimmeu enth.Tlten.'
Zittau. 1662. Contjiina twenty-two pieces, including three BO-called
sonatas, two of them on ch'irales, the third written for two alto
"voices in unison accomp.anied by two trumpets and four trombones.
16. "xvii. Miasae sacrae 5 ad 12 usque vocibus et instru mentis,'
Dresden, 1663. These masses consist only of the Kyrie and Gloria,
the so-called Missa Erevis of the Lutheran Church.
' 17. Sechsstimmige Fest- und Zeit-Andachten.' Dresden, 1671.
Cnnt-T-ins thirty-eight settings o 6 in motet style, hut with comparative
simplicity of contrapuntal treatment. One piece from this
work, 'Schaff in mir Gott ein reines Herz' (Make me a clean heart,
O GodI, has been reprinted in Schlesinger'.t .iJusica Hacra, No. 41.
Several uthera have been reprinted by F. Ci.immer,
18. Vopelius'sGesangbuch, 1682, contains seven four-pai"t settings
of hymn-tunes by Hammeruchmidt.
For many interesting remarks on Hammerschmidt,
and his influence on Michael and
Christiiph Bach, and on the development of the
later Church Cantata in (Germany, see Spitta's
Bach (English translation), vol. i. pjJ. 49, 55,
57-5S, 60, t)9, 124, 302. For MS. works and
collections, sre the Qudkn-Lci-il'on. J. K. M.
HANCOCK, organ-builder. [See Crang k
Hancock.]
HAND BELLS for purposes of tune-playing
or practising Change-Ringing can be obtained of
all bell founders, tuned either chromatically or
simply in the diatonic scale.
There are many bands of tune- players on
hand bells in England, consisting of live or six
men, who manipulate between them as many as
sixty bells, and produce extremely pretty music.
Hand bells are also used by Change-Ringers for
practising the methods by which changes are
produced, before performing them on the tower
bells, much noise and annoyance being thus
prevented ; they are almost indispensable for
this purpose. c. a. "w. t-.
HANDEL,^ George Frederick, one of the
greatest composers the world has ever seen, was
born at Halle, ^ Lower Saxony, Feb. 23, 1685.
His father, a surgeon, who was sixty-three years
of age when this son was born, knew nothing of
Art, and regarded it as a degrading pursuit, or,
at best, as an idle amusement. Determined to
raise his son in the social scale, he thought to
do so by making him a lawyer, and to this end
he strove in every way to stifle the alanning
symptoms of musical genius which appeared
almost in infancy, while he refused even to
send the child to school, lest there, among
other things, he should also learn his notes.
In spite of this, some friendly hand contrived
to convey into the house a clavichord which was
concealed in a garret, where, without being
discovered, the boy taught himself to play.
"When he was seven years old, his father set
ont on a journey to visit a son by a former
man-iage, who was valet-de-chamhre to the Duke
of Saxe "Weissenfels. George begged to be
allowed to go too ; his request was denied, but,
with the persistence of purpose which cliaracter-
ised him through life, he determined to follow
the carriage on foot, and actually did so for
a considerable distance, a proceeding which.
I The name is always spelt Handel by German writers. It was
spelt at first, in Encl^md, Ilendel. a form used, like ilnnlal, by the
compnger while in Italy. The family-name had been spelt Handt-l,
IJendcl. ffendi-lT, Hdndelcr. and Eendth-r, but most correctly
Hdndcl (Fdrstemann, G. F. Haendel's Stummbaum, fol, Leipzig,
1&44, very incorrectly quoted by Fi'tisK
^ A woodcvit ii A'rim for June 25. 1859. and as a frontispiece to the
Book of Words of the Handel Festival. 1877. The actual house was
indeed repre.iented there, but the adjacent house was in so prominent
a place in the phot-ograph that it might easily have been
mistaken for the true birthplace. Morerecentphotogrjiphs, showing
it in its richt proportion, are in the special Handel number of the
Jl'isical Tin^s. Vi'c. 14, 1893, and in C. F. Abdy WiUiama'a Bandcl.