Leonhard Lechner (c1553-1606)
Of Death and Resurrection
Capricornus Ensemble Stuttgart/Henning Wiegräbe
rec. 2022, protestantische Stiftskirche, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Germany
Texts and translations included
Reviewed as a download
Coviello COV92409 [63]

German composers who were active around 1600 don’t fare that well in today’s concert life. Their music is part of the repertoire of German choirs, but seldom makes it to recordings which are available on the international market. It seems that they are largely overshadowed by, on one hand, Lassus, one of the last representatives of the Franco-Flemish school, and on the other by early representatives of the concertato style, such as Schein and Schütz. Among these ‘forgotten’ composers are Hans-Leo Hassler and Leonhard Lechner. Their oeuvre is not yet fully explored. In the case of Hassler, that isn’t that surprising as his output is huge. The list of Lechner’s compositions is much shorter; it seems that in particular many from the last twenty years of his life have been lost.

He was born in South-Tirol. His first activities are documented for 1570 when he worked at the court of Landshut. It seems very likely that in his early years he had been active as a choirboy in the court chapel in Munich, when Lassus was Kapellmeister there. Although it seems unlikely there was a teacher-pupil relationship, Lassus’s influence is obvious in Lechner’s works. The latter explicitly referred to Lassus as one of his sources of inspiration. This explains why Lechner took Lassus’s motet Domine, Dominus noster as the cantus firmus of a mass which was included in a book with masses and other liturgical music printed in 1584. It was written for a special occasion, the wedding of the Augsburg patrician Sebald Welser to the daughter of a Nuremberg councillor on 15 January 1582. From at least 1575, Lechner was an assistant teacher at the St Lorenz school, which was the largest grammar school in Nuremberg. The town council granted him the title of archimusicus and his salary was raised to the same level as that of the Kantor, because he was considered an outstanding musician and composer. That is reflected by the commissions to write music for special occasions like the above-mentioned wedding.

The collection of 1584 was dedicated to Count Eitelfriedrich IV von Hohenzollern-Hechingen, who had appointed Lechner Kapellmeister the year before. However, this commitment didn’t last long. The Count was a vehement supporter of the Counter-Reformation and an opponent of “the seductive and accursed heresies of the Lutherans and Calvinists”. Lechner was a convinced Lutheran who had converted to Protestantism when he was 18 years old. Rather than ask for permission to leave, he sneaked out and fled to Tübingen which was part of Württemberg. He was warmly welcomed there and found the protection of Duke Ludwig of Württemberg. He entered his chapel in Stuttgart, first as a singer, soon as assistant to the Hofkapellmeister, to which position he was appointed in 1595 and which held until his death.

Lechner’s oeuvre consists of sacred and secular music, the former both in Latin and in German. The best recordings of some of his sacred works on Latin texts are those by the ensemble officium and the Ensemble Gabinetto Armonico, playing loud wind instruments (Christophorus, 2013), and the Augsburger Domsingknaben, directed by Reinhard Kammler (deutsche harmonia mundi, 1987). Sacred and secular pieces in German have been recorded by Cantus Cölln (deutsche harmonia mundi, 1990) and Weser-Renaissance (CPO, 1995). There are some more, partly from earlier times, and some of his works are included in anthologies. Overall, Lechner’s presence on disc is rather poor.

That is all the more surprising, given the quality of his music and his historical role in the shift from the Renaissance to the early Baroque, especially with regard to the connection between text and music. In his own time, he was held in high esteem. In 1595 Christoph Demantius praised him as not inferior to Lassus, and some of his early works were mentioned by theorists as models and examples. Konrad Ameln, who edited Lechner’s Passion which is the main work on the present disc, states in his article on the composer in New Grove: “Lechner’s letters (…) and the prefaces to his printed works reveal a well-bred, highly cultivated man of superior intellect and some discrimination, whose essential modesty was tempered by a justifiable self-assurance.”

All the pieces on this disc, except the Passion, are taken from several collections of “teutsche Lieder” – songs in German – without further specification, except the last of 1589, which refers to “sacred and secular songs”. I don’t understand why in the booklet the titles are extended in the English translation. Newe Teutsche Lieder of 1582 is ‘translated’ as New Sacred and Secular German Songs. The mixture of the sacred and the secular in collections of music was very common. In the preface to that of 1589 Lechner stated: “Since God the Lord gave the charming art of music not only for the praise of his divine name but also for the honourable pleasure of mankind, why then should we not employ the same for worldly things and songs?”

The programme of the present disc is largely confined to sacred music (the exception is the last item, Gott bhüte dich). It opens with Wohl dem, der den Herren fürchtet, a setting of Psalm 112. Each verse is set as a motet, just like the Psalmi Davidis poenitentiales by Lassus. An example of text expression is “er streuet aus und gibt den Armen” – he scatters and gives to the poor. Text expression is also a feature of the next piece, O Tod, du bist ein bittre Gallen, which is one of his best-known works; the author of the text is not known. Thematically connected to this piece are the Deutsche Sprüche von Leben und Tod (German Proverbs on Life and Death), a cycle of fifteen poems. This piece makes Lechner the first composer in the German-speaking world who set a complete cycle of poems. They are about the trials and tribulations of human life: “We humans journey like poor orphans, full of sorrow and unsure of tomorrow. Today fresh, glorious, healthy, fair and strong; tomorrow blighted, dead and deceased.” As one may expect from a text in Lutheran Germany, it has strong religious connotations. It ends thus: “His [God’s] hand will save us from all hardship; we live and die and will not decay. After this suffering, He will bestow joy on us without doubt. Then we will be blessed.”

From this work to the Passion is a small step. The Historia der Passion und Leidens unsers einigen Erlösers und Seligmachers Jesu Christi dates from 1593 and is one of the few works from Lechner’s later years that have been preserved. There is no autograph, only a copy in another hand, part of a volume of works by various composers once in the possession of the Landgrave of Hesse. Although the title refers to the Gospel after St John, Lechner included passages from other Gospels, in the tradition of the Evangelienharmonie (the title of a collation of the Passion accounts in the four Gospels by Johann Bugenhagen, 1526).

To the title of the Passion Lechner added that it was based on “the old Latin church tone”. This Passion tone moves from one voice to another. “In a similar manner to the Psalm tones, this is an adaptable psalmodic formula with the aid of which any text – in this the story of the passion – can be performed in sung form. The repercussa or tuba forms the core of the work, i.e. the note on which the majority of the text is sung, and is punctuated with fixed phrases at the beginning (initium), in the middle (punctus elevatus) and at the end of each verse (punctus versus). This principle which has been documented right back in early medieval times, has been somewhat expanded in the case of the Passion note by the musical featuring of certain figures from the Bible story. The Evangelist customarily recites his text on the repercussa C4, Jesus on F4 and the other figures on F5. Lechner utilises these melodic lines in his counterpoint, but divides them among the different voices and does not hesitate to supply new rhythms and even ornamentation.” (booklet)

Although the work is set for four voices and does not single out the words of individual characters by allocating them to a specific voice, Lechner regularly reduces the number of voices, especially when a character is speaking. In such cases the soprano or the bass may keep silent. However, it also happens in other places, where nobody is speaking, and from that angle one may wonder what the reason may have been. It certainly does lend this Passion a kind of drama which was not common in ‘motet passions’ of the 16th century. To the dramatic traces also contribute the passages with text expression. Lechner often uses musical figures to depict elements of the text, such as “Waffen” (weapons), “Backenstreich” (slap in the face), and incidents as the soldiers’ falling to the ground. It is very instructive to listen to this Passion with the score at hand (available at the Petrucci Music Library).

This brings me to the way it is performed. I know of only one recording, by the chamber choir of the Augsburger Domsingknaben, already mentioned above. There are two notable differences between the two recordings. First, the Augsburger Domsingknaben are a small choir, whereas on the present disc the Passion is performed with one voice per part. That is certainly an option, but not the only one; a (small) choir seems entirely legitimate. The main difference between the previous recording and the present is the participation of instruments in the latter. Clément Gester, in his liner-notes, states: “The division between voices and instruments and the entire conception of scoring was for people of the Renaissance period not as strict as today. Each individual voice could be performed either be a singer, an instrumentalist or both together – as long as the text was performed in its entirety.” As a matter of principle, he is right. However, that does not tell us much about when and where instruments did participate.

As at the Bavarian court, where Lassus was Kapellmeister, or in St Mark’s in Venice, instruments may have been used mainly at special occasions, such as the main feasts of the ecclesiastical calendar, but not on a regular basis. A feast like Easter would certainly have been such an occasion. But Passiontide? In the Catholic Church the use of instruments was strongly reduced or even omitted during Lent, and this tradition may have been kept alive in Lutheran worship. But if instruments were allowed, the use of strings – for instance a consort of viols – may have been more likely than loud wind instruments. I very much would prefer a strictly vocal performance.

“Capricornus ensemble has orchestrated the work to ensure that each figure performing the text in direct speech is embodied by a single voice and accompanied by the other parts taken over by instrumentalists. In this process, the ensemble is not only adhering to the ancient tradition of distinguishing the figures through the different repercussæ (see above), but also the tradition of subsequent oratorios in which biblical figures were represented and performed by solo singers.” Because of this, parts of the score which are texted are not sung, which I find rather problematic.

My doubts with regard to the role of instruments also goes for the other items in the programme. The titles of the various collections – “Lieder” (songs) – and the inclusion of secular works suggest that this was music for private performances, not for the liturgy. Only courts with a chapel consisting of voices and instruments may have had the opportunity to perform these pieces with the participation of cornett and sackbuts, for instance, as Tafelmusik (music performed during dinner). In most cases the pieces performed here may have been sung a capella, or with a lute or viola da gamba. And in some of the items, again a consort of viols may have been more appropriate than loud wind instruments.

You will understand that I have some reservations with regard to performance practice in this recording but that does not compromise my appreciation of this production. First, it is important that Lechner’s music be given attention. It is a mystery why he is so overlooked. The modest discography is telling. It is to be hoped that this is going to change. One thing this disc makes clear is that the quality of Lechner’s music is beyond discussion. Secondly, the performances as such are outstanding. The four singers – Kristen Witmer, Daniel Schreiber, Raphael Höhn and Wolf Matthias Friedrich – are specialists in early music, and know exactly how to bring the music to life. In several items one can admire their individual qualities. The playing of the instruments is also excellent.

From a strictly musical point of view this disc deserves an unequivocal recommendation. It is just that the performance practice does not really convince me.

Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen

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Contents
Wohl dem, der den Herren fürchtet
O Tod, du bist ein bittre Gallen
Wenn ich gedenk der Stund
Deutsche Sprüche von Leben und Tod
Ein jeder Mensch bedenk eben
Historia der Passion und Leidens unsers einigen Erlösers und Seligmachers Jesu Christi
Christ ist erstanden
Gott b’hüte dich