Luogo e data di registrazione		Lutheran Church, Haarlem (The Netherlands) - 12 June 1996
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Recording supervisor		Wolf Erichson
	Recording Engineer / Editing		Markus Heiland (Tritonus)
	Assistant engineer		Yasushi Hamase (Tritonus)
	Prima Edizione LP		-
	Prima Edizione CD		Sony / Vivarte - SK 62 732 - (1 CD) - durata 64' 00" - (p) 1997 - DDD
	Cover Art		View of the City of Dresden, Opaque watercolour, c.1760, page from the Memory book of Magister Johannes Frentzel, Leipzig 1646-74 - Leipzig University Library
	Note		-

A Musical Summit Meeting at the Dresden Court The encounter described in detail by Johann Mattheson in the article entitled “Weckmann” in his book, Grundlage einer Ehren-Pforte (1740) [Foundations for a Portal to Honor], must have been memorable: “About this time [after 1647] Johann Jacob Froberger, Court Organist to Emperor Ferdinand [III], came to Dresden, bringing the Elector a message in the Emperor`s hand: The Elector [Johann Georg I] took Weckmann aside and said, 'My dear Matthies, wouldn't you like to compete at the keyboard with Froberger for the prize of a golden chain?' `Indeed, with the greatest pleasure', answered Weckmann, “but as a token of respect for His Imperial Majesty the chain should go to Froberger.' The latter, having played, asked immediately after a certain Weckmann in the Elector's ensemble; this musician had acquired some renown at the Emperor's court, and Froberger wished to meet him. As Weckmann was standing directly behind his colleague; the Elector clapped his man on the shoulder and said to liroberger, 'My Matthies is right here.' After the two musicians caught up on belated introductions, Weckmann also performed, improvising for almost half an hour on a theme he had just then quickly learnt as Froberger had played it. Not only did the visitor marvel at Weckmann's playing, but indeed the entire court did as well; and Froberger exclaimed to the Elector, 'Without a doubt, this man is a true virtuoso.' Thereafter, the aforementioned artists carried on an exchange of private correspondence; and Froberger sent Weckmann one of his own suites wherein he had written out all the ornaments, so that Weckmann might familiarize himself with Froberger`s playing style." In his article, Froberger, Mattheson had already spoken of the visit to Dresden, but had not mentioned Weckman: “Then at that time he [Froberger] had the desire to travel to Dresden in order to visit the musical ensemble there. The Emperor was not only willing to allow him to fulfill this wish, but looked upon the trip quite gladly, for he wanted the Elector, Johann Georg II [actually Georg I], to hear his man Froberger play. To this end, he provided the composer with a letter of recommendation. Froberger played, among other works, six toccatas, eight capriccios, two ricercars and two suites for the Elector, all of which he had copied in fair hand and bound neatly together into a book. This he gave to his host as a present, in return for which he received a golden chain. He was well looked after during his stay at the court, and finally sent forth with all grace and blessings, as well as with a manuscript containing the Elector's princely answer to the Emperor. This monarch's [the Emperor's] reputation as a lover of music, and as a connoisseur and composer, is widely recognized; thus it was that he looked with much pleasure upon Froberger - upon the latter's performance of his duties as well as upon the honors which he received (Alas! How things have changed!).” Mattheson probably gained most of his information from Johann Kortkamp (1643-1721 ),Weckman`s pupil and first biographer. But Kortkamp`s Organist-enchronik [Organists Diary], kept at the beginning of the 18th century in the musicians) ledger of Hamburg's Gertrude Church, is written in such general terms that the visit in Dresden cannot be documented with certainty: “He used the time before he came to Hamburg [1655] to great advantage to create the most artistic works of the period [...] In those days his temperament was particularly disposed towards touring about in the role of a most remarkable virtuoso.” These three excerpts provide us with a true fund of information. True, the date of the encounter between Froberger and Weckman is not mentioned, but thanks to new research by Siegbert Rampe, the visit can be pinpointed sometime between September, 1649 and February, 1650. Froberger - clearly well-informed about Weckman's compositions - appeared in Dresden not only for private reasons, but with some diplomatic purpose as well. What it may have been, however, has not yet been established. From a diplomatic point of view, the success of this visit, during which Froberger apparently represented certain interests and needs of the court in Vienna, must have been viewed indeed by the Habsburg Emperor as highly “pleasurable.” For in the wake of the Thirty Years War, during which Lutheran Saxony had been torn between the opposing powers, this Electorate had finally remained - in the last phase of the hostilities - on the side of the Emperor. At the assumed time of Froberger's sojourn in Dresden, the peace resolutions in Münster and Osnabrück were not even two years old, and the real celebrations of peace were yet to come. From the ever-so-slight mentions of the playing contest itself, we might assume that Froberger played his own pre-composed works, whereas Weckman revealed himself a master of contrapuntal improvisation. It is noteworthy that, in complete contrast to his choral-based organ works, his harpsichord pieces remained somewhat in the background of his creativity. The toccatas, and also the canzonas, are of a quite relaxed contrapuntal cast; whereas Froberger`s works in these genres - particularly in the Libro secondo (1649!) - make a more formal impression upon the listener. The works by Weckman recorded on this disc come from the so-called Lüneburger Clavierbüchlein, an extensive, if undated autograph source. Alexander Silbiger has hinted at the possibility that Weckman intended to arrange them in an order similar to that found in Froberger's Viennese autographs. Froberger, under the influence of the French lutenists, had reordered the sections of the four-movement suite. Whereas in the older form of the suite, the gigue came at the end, in the new variant the order became: allemande - gigue - courante - sarabande. Both types can be found among the works of Weckman, who, in the older-styled B minor suite heard here, added a prelude. Weckman probably never wrote tombeaus or laments such as Froberger created (the one heard here was written upon the death of the lutenist Charles Fleury de Blancrocher). Nonetheless, the only copy we have of Froberger's highly personal Meditation feíst svr ma Mort fvtvre [Meditation, fashioned upon the subject of my eventual death] comes down to us in Weckman`s hand. One could hardly find more impressive evidence of the amicable exchange between these two musicians. Ibo Ortgies (Translation: © 1997 David Montgomery)