13 Titles - Viola da Gamba Society

oth wind players. Both of Thomas’s younger brothers were also musicians.Joachim was taught the violin, the cornett and composition by the Lübeckcomposer Nicolaus Bleyer ( 1591-1658) and became ratslautenist in 1656, andDavid (b. 1641) was also a ratslautenist. It is not known exactly when Thomaswas born. Modern reference books usually give c. 1630, but since his parentswere married only on October 4 1630, it is likely that he was actually bornsometime during the following year. Nothing for sure is known about ThomasBaltzar’s training as a musician. Many writers have followed Stiehl in suggestingthat he was taught by Gregor Zuber and Franz [4] Tunder, both composersresent in Lübeck at the time, though Nicolaus Bleyer would seem to be a morelikely possibility. As we have seen, Bleyer is known to have taught JoachimBaltzar, and he is the only Lübeck composer of the period apart from ThomasBaltzar himself who is known to have written solo violin music; we shall seethat his Engliss Mars, a set of divisions on the popular tune ‘Est ce Mars?’ forviolin and continuo, is in the same tradition as a set of divisions by Baltzarhimself.A great deal of confusion surrounds the period of Baltzar’s employment atthe Swedish Court. Most modern accounts state that he worked at the Court ofQueen Christina and that he came to England from Sweden, though none ofthem give sources for their information. The following, by David Boyden, istypical:In 1647 Queen Christina of Sweden is said to have imported six Frenchviolinists for the Court orchestra. A few years later the Swedish Queen musthave taken Baltzar (b. 1630) into her service. He was a highly paid chamberviolinist at her Court immediately before settling in England about 1655. 5The only documentary evidence that I have been able to find to confirmthese assertions is a list of court musicians transcribed apparently from theSwedish Court archives by Tobias Norlind and published by Andre Pirro in hisexcellent book on Dietrich Buxtehude. 6 The list dates from 1653 and includesThomas Baltzar as the last of twenty-five names. Far from being a ‘highly paidchamber violinist’, he is actually one of the lowest-paid individuals on the list,receiving only 125 daler for a half year as against the 300 daler paid to eleven ofthe other musicians and the 450 daler paid to Andreas Düben, the SwedishCourt Chapel Master. Of course, Baltzar’s position at the foot of the list couldimply that he was the most recent recruit, so it is just possible that his 125 daleris payment for a period of less than six months, though there is nothing in thelist as given by Pirro to suggest this. It is also clear that Baltzar did not come toEngland direct from Sweden, as has been assumed, but returned briefly toLübeck. The Lübeck archives record his appointment there as a ratslautenist atthe beginning of 1655; I suspect that he returned to his home town followingthe abdication of Queen Christina and the dissolution of her Court in June1654. One indication that Baltzar’s stay in Sweden was only brief is that nopieces by him exist today in the great collection of Swedish Court musicassembled by members of the Düben family that is now at Uppsala UniversityLibrary. Baltzar’s employment as a Lübeck town lutenist was equally brief: by5 David Boyden: The History of Violin Playing from its Origins to 1761 (London, 1965), p.1446 Andre Pirro: Dietrich Buxtehude (Paris, 1913), p. 32