Johann Heinrich Bodecker, Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott

(Attribution to Bodecker and biographical details thanks to Andreas Osiander)

Johann Heinrich Bodecker (or Bödecker) was born in Bremen in 1640 or 1641. In 1667 he became a member of the court orchestra of the Elector of Brandenburg in Berlin, at 200 reichstalers per annum. In 1674 the city council of Bremen appointed Bodecker as organist of St Mary’s church and asked the elector in Berlin to let him go. But the elector refused. Instead he appointed Bodecker as assistant organist of the Berlin cathedral (with the right pf succession) and raised his salary to 250 rt. p.a. In 1679 Bodecker’s salary is raised to 300 rt., the same as that of the cathedral organist, Wilhelm Karges. Finally, in 1699 Bodecker succeeds Karges. His salary is now 352 rt. He retires in 1708, dies in 1713.

All this shows Bodecker was much in favor. Yet no music by his hands survives that I know of. Until now: I present an organ work, possibly written by Bodecker. The work can be found in manuscript Mus Ms 30439, owned by the Staatbibliothek in Berlin. The manuscript contains some 120 pages, that for the largest part are in very bad shape. The pages where Bocdeker’s piece is written are stained, torn and parts are missing because the paper has become brittle and even because parts have been cut out. Luckily, the piece is a set of variations on the melody of “Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott”. Each variation has the unaltered melody in one of the voices. So it is possible to determine exactly how much is missing.
To make a playable score, I filled in the missing parts. The filled in notes are indicated in the score by using a smaller font. So, the normal notes are from Bodecker, the small notes are my addition to make it a playable piece.

My first attribution of this piece was to Henricus Radeker, the first organist of the Müller-organ in Haarlem. Hence, the recording was done on the sample set of the Müller-organ in the Sint Bavokerk in Haarlem by Voxus Organs for Hauptwerk. The tenth and final variation is just a bicinium, so to end the piece on a grander scale, I repeat the opening chorale setting on 16 feet plenum, in the final chord even throwing in both 32 feet stops.

Chorale:
BW: Praestant 8′, Octaaf 4′
Ped: Praestant 16′, Octaaf 8′, Octaaf 4′

Variatio Prima
HW: Octaaf 8′, Quintpraestant 3′ (RH)
RW: Holpijp 8′, Tregter Regaal 8′ (LH)

Variatio Secunda
BW: Praestant 8, Octaaf 4′, Nasard 3′ (RH)
RW: Holpijp 8′, Trompet 8′ (LH)

Variatio Tertia
HW: Octaaf 8′, Octaaf 4′, Gemshoorn 4′, Quintpraestant 3′, Woudfluit 2′, Oboe 8′
Ped: Praestant 16′, Octaaf 8′, Octaaf 4′, Trompet 8′

Variatio Quarta
BW: Praestant 8′, Octaaf 4′, Dolceaan 8′ (RH)
HW: Octaaf 8′, Octaaf 4′, Quintpraestant 3′, Trompet 8′ (LH)
Ped: Praestant 16′, Octaaf 8′, Octaaf 4′

Variatio Quinta
HW: Roerfluit 8′, Oboe 8′ (RH)
RW: Holpijp 8′, Fluitdouce 4′, Tregter Regaal 8′ (LH)
Ped: Octaaf 8′, Holfluit 8′

Variatio Sexta
BW: Quitadena 8′(RH)
HW: Roerfluit 8′, Gemshoorn 4′ (RH)

Variatio Septima
BW: Baarpijp 8′, Flagfluit 4′, Vox Humana 8′, Tremulant (LH)
RW: Holpijp 8′, Quintadena 8′, Fluitdouce 4′ (RH)

Variatio Octava
HW: Octaaf 8′, Octaaf 4′, Quintpraestant 3′, Woudfluit 2′
RW: Praestant 8′, Octaaf 4′, Superoctaaf 2′
HW+RW

Variatio Nona:
BW: Quintadena 16′, Praestant 8′, Quintadena 8′, Baarpijp 8′ (RH)
HW: Bourdon 16′ (LH)
RW: Praestant 8′, Octaaf 4′, Speelfluit 3′
Ped: Octaaf 8′, Octaaf 4′, Holfluit 2′, Cink 2′
HW+RW

Variatio Decima
HW: Praestant 16′, Octaaf 8′, Octaaf 4′, Quintpraestant 3′, Woudfluit 2′, Trompet 8′ (LH)
RW: Praestant 8′, Octaaf 4′, Speelfluit 3′, Superoctaaf 2′, Mixtuur, Cornet, Fagot 16′, Trompet 8′ (RH)

Reprise Chorale
BW: Praestant 8′, Octaaf 4′, Nasard 3′, Nachthoorn 2′, Mixtuur
HW: Praestant 16′, Octaaf 8′, Octaaf 4′, Quintpraestant 3′, Woudfluit 2′, Scherp, Tertiaan, Trompet 8′
RW: Praestant 8′, Octaaf 4′, Speelfluit 3′, Superoctaaf 2′, Mixtuur,Trompet 8′
Ped: Praestant 16′, Octaaf 8′, Octaaf 4′, Mixtuur, Bazuin 16′, Trompet 8′
HW+BW, HW+RW, Ped+HW
Final bar:
Ped: +Praestant 32′, +Bazuin 32′

Score
Bodecker, Herr Jesu Christ, wahr Mensch und Gott

Performance

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