Anonymus, Psalm 5 (Ms Lynar B7)

by admin · May 24, 2021

[I published this piece three weeks ago; it was however not yet backed up when I needed to restore the website’s database this weekend. So, here it is again]

The Lynar manuscripts were preserved in the holdings of the Duke of Lynar in Lübbenau, and are therefore also known as the Lübbenauer Orgeltabulaturen. The seventh manuscript in the B-series contains 5 anonymous choral preludes/variations to Psalms. As Psalms were and are widely sung in the protestatns churches in the Netherlands this fits with the supposition that the composer or composers of these works must have been student of Sweelinck.

The second composition from this manuscript is a set of three variations on Psalm 5. Each of these three variations has the psalm melody in a different voice. The first variation features the psalm melody in the soprano voice, the second variation in the bass voice and the third one in the tenor voice.

The manuscript is written in German Tablature and contains no indication about use of pedals. Nevertheless, in the third variation, the tenor voice could be played with the pedals. When registered with a reed like for example a trumpet the psalm melody would be clearly heard. To make playing the tenor voice with the pedals more easy, I created a version of the score for this variation with three staves and pla es the tenor voice in the third stave. It should be possible to play it in this with way with just a two stave version if you’re trained well enough. If I try to do it however, left hand and feet are in constant dispute about which notes to play. Better to create a three stave score and spare my poor limbs a lot of confusion.

The recording was done with the Hauptwerk software and the sampleset, made by Sonus Paradisi, of the Klapmeyer organ in the St. Nikolai church in Altenbruch (https://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/organs/germany/klapmeyer-organ-altenbruch.html).

Score
Anonymus (Ms Lynar B7), Psalm 5