Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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SCHEIDT SCHEIDT 2&3
large number of parts. On Dec. 12, 1896,
lie sang with great success as tlie hero in
Bungert's 'Odysseus' Heimkehr,'on Jan. 29,
1898, in 'Kirke,' and on March 21, 1901,
in 'Nansikaa' (the second and third parts
respectively of the Homeric tetralogy), on
May 21, 1901, in Paderewski's 'Manru,' on
the production of that opera. On leave of
absence, in 1888, he sang as Hans Sachs at
Bayreuth ; in 1893, at the Gotha Opera Festival,
as Kodolph in the revival of Boieldieu's ' Petit
Chaperon Eouge.' On May 27, 1899, he sang
again at Covent Garden, as Hans Sachs, a performance
remarkable both on account of his
fine acting and for the refinement of his singing
and declamation. In addition he has sung in
the principal cities of Germany and Austria,
both in opera and concerts. In 1906 he took
the part of Scherasmin in a successful revival
of Oberon ' ' at Dresden. A. c.
SCHEIDT, Samuel, one of the celebrated
three S's (the other two being Heinrieh Schiitz
and Hermann Schein, his contemporaries), the
best German organist of his time, was bom at
Halle in 1587. His father, Conrad Scheidt,
was master or overseer of salt-works at Halle.
The family must have been musical, as some
works are stUl preserved of Gottfried, Samuel's
brother, which A. 6. Eitter (Geschichie der
Orgelmusik) says show considerable musical
ability. Samuel owed his training as an organist
to the then famous ' Organisten-macher ' Peter
Sweelinck of Amsterdam. About 1605 he
betook himself to Amsterdam, and became a
pupil of Sweelinck. In 1608 or 1609 he
became organist in the Moritzkirche in HaUe,
and in 1620 at least, if not earlier, he had
received the appointment of organist and capellmeister
to Christian Wilhelm, Markgraf of
Brandenburg, and then Protestant Administrator
of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. In
this capacity Scheidt ofBciated not at Magdeburg,
but in the Hofkirche at Halle. The
troubles of the Thirty Years' War and the
misfortunes of his patron, the siege and sack
of Magdeburg in 1631, and the abdication of
Christian Wilhelm in 1638, seem to have made
no difference to Scheldt's oflicial position at
Halle, though his income and means of living
must have suffered ; the service in the Hofkirche
ceased after 1625, and the Moritzkirche
was destroyed by fire in 1637. We have no
record as to his personal relations with Christian's
successors in the administration of the
Magdeburg archbishopric, but Chrysander in
the Jdhrhncher filr musikalische Wissenschaft,
i. p. 158, prints a letter from Scheidt to Duke
Augustus of Brunswick in 1642, which seems
to imply that he was then looking for some
patronage or assistance from that art-loving
prince. Scheldt never left HaUe, however, and
his circumstances may have improved, as in
his will he bequeathed some money for the
I
sake of the organ in the St. Moritzkirche at
Halle. He died at the age of sixty-seven on
March 24, 1654.
Scheldt's first published work appeared at
Hamburg in 1620 ('Cantiones Sacrae octo
vocum '), and consists of thirty -nine vocal
compositions, fifteen of which are settings of
Lutheran chorales. In 1621-22 appeared the
first part of his sacred concertos, in 2-12 vocal
parts with instrumental accompaniment. This
was followed by successive books of similar
pieces, published in 1631, 1634, 1635, and
1640. His fame, however, rests not on his
vocal compositions, but on his works for the
organ. His next work, also published at
Hamburg in 1624, is considered epoch-making
in the history of organ music. It consists of
three parts, but the whole work beare the
general
'
title Tabulatura Nova '
; the same
title, indeed, as many earlier works of the same
kind in Germany {e.g. Ammerbach, 1571 ; B.
Schmid, 1577 ; Paix, 1583 ; Woltz, 1617),
from all of which, however, it differs widely
both in aim and style, and indeed marks the
beginning of a new and better treatment of
the organ both with regard to playing and to
composition. From 1570 to about 1620, organ
playing in Germany almost entirely consisted
in what was known as the art of 'coloriren,'
the art of ' colouring melodies sacred or secular
'
by the inserting of meaningless passages, all
framed on one and the same pattern, between
each note or chord of the melody. These earlier
Tablature-books were all compiled simply to
teach this purely mechanical art of ' colouring
melodies for the organ. The music was written
in the so-called German Tablature, i.e. with
letters instead of notes. ^ (For a full account
of these German ' Coloristen ^ of the 16th and
'
17th centuries, see A. G. Ritter's Geschichte der
Orgelmusik, pp. 111-39.) Scheldt's 'Tabulatura
Nova put an end '
to this miserable style
of playing and composing for the organ, as well
as to the old German Tablature. The music
in his book is noted in score of four staves,
with five lines to the stave, so far differing from
the notation both of Frescobaldi and Sweelinck,
the former using two staves of six and eight
lines respectively, the latter two staves both of
six lines. To give an idea of the contents of
Scheldt's work, we transcribe in full the
separate titles of the three parts :
I. Tabulatura Nova, continens variationes aliquot
Psalmorum, Fantasiarum, Cantilenarum, Fassaiuezo
et Canones aliquot, in gratiam Organistarum adornata
a Sanmele Scheidt Hallense, Reverendiss. Illustrissimique
Principis ac Domini, Christiani Guilielmi Arcliiepiscopi
Magdeburgenais, Primatis Germaniae Organists
et Capellae Magistro. Hamburgi . . . mdcxxiv.
IT. Pars Secunila . . , continens Fugarum, Psalmorum,
CantiODUra et Echus Tocatae variatinnes varias et
omnimodas. Pro quommvis Organistarum captu et
modulo, . . .
1 For an example of German Organ Tablature, see Schlecht,
Geschichte der KirchenmufPcp, S77 ff.
2 '
Geschmackloae Barbareu' (tasteleaa barbarians), as Ambros
calls them.