Johann (''Johannes'') Speth (9 November 1664 – 12. Oktober 1728 Augsburg) was a German

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. He was born in Speinshart, some 150 km from

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

, but spent most of his life in

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

, where he worked as cathedral organist for two years. His only surviving music is a 1693 collection, ''Ars Magna Consoni et Dissoni'', which includes

toccata Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virt ...

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary or Canticle of Mary, and in the Byzantine Rite as the Ode of the Theotokos (). Its Western name derives from the incipit of its Latin text. This ...

versets and variations in the south German style.

Life

Speth was born in Speinshart,

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, to teacher Heinrich Speth and his wife Margareta (née Vichtl). Past scholars established that Speth must have received music lessons from the abbot of the

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular in the Catholic Chur ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

at Speinshart, one Dominikus Lieblein; however, this has recently been disproven. Nothing is known about his life before 1692, when he applied for the position of organist of Augsburg Cathedral. The application, which contained Speth's compositions, was accepted, and he was appointed organist on 4 November 1692. The music he supplied with the application was published the next year in Augsburg as ''Ars magna Consoni et Dissoni''. In the files of the cathedral administration there is a note from 1705 showing that Speth had also to work in the office of the cathedral chapter. There is a document that shows that in 1719, he still lived with his wife and a maidservant in Augsburg.

Music

The composer's only surviving work is the collection published in 1693 in Augsburg, ''Ars magna Consoni et Dissoni''. The title may be a reference to

Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Society of Jesus, Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jes ...

's famous book, '' Musurgia universalis, sive ars magna consoni et dissoni'' (1650). An early description of the work was included by

Johann Gottfried Walther Johann Gottfried Walther (18 September 1684 – 23 March 1748) was a German music theorist, organist, composer, and lexicographer of the Baroque era. Life and work Walther was born at Erfurt. Not only was his life almost exactly contempor ...

in his ''Musikalisches Lexicon''; Walther claimed Speth only compiled the pieces but did not compose. This hypothesis is now generally considered false. ''Ars Magna'' contains music intended for organ or

clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance music, Renaissance, Baroque music, Baroque and Classical period (music), Classical eras. Historically, it was most ...

: ten toccatas (subtitled ''Musicalische Blumen-Felder''), eight

settings, and three variation sets. The music has clearly traceable Italian influences, with direct borrowings: one of the variation sets is built on a theme by

Bernardo Pasquini Bernardo Pasquini (7 December 1637 – 21 November 1710) was an Italian composer of operas, oratorios, cantatas and keyboard music. A renowned virtuoso keyboard player, he was one of the most important Italian composers for harpsichord between Gir ...

, there is also a passage from Bernardo Storace in the ''Spangioletta'' variation set, and a verset by

Alessandro Poglietti Alessandro Poglietti (early 17th century – July 1683) was a Baroque organist and composer of unknown origin. In the second half of the 17th century Poglietti settled in Vienna, where he attained an extremely high reputation, becoming one of Le ...

(quinti toni no. 3). The influence of contemporary southern organists is also apparent, particularly that of

Georg Muffat Georg Muffat (1 June 1653 – 23 February 1704) was a Baroque composer and organist. He is best known for the remarkably articulate and informative performance directions printed along with his collections of string pieces ''Florilegium Primum'' a ...

and

Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer (some authorities use the spelling Johann Kaspar Ferdinand Fischer) (1656 August 27, 1746) was a German Baroque composer. Johann Nikolaus Forkel ranked Fischer as one of the best composers for keyboard of his da ...

. The toccatas are unusually short for the genre; most consist of three (toccata-

fugue In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...

-toccata) sections. There are some interesting features such as dynamic indications in ''Toccata quarta''. The Magnificat settings are, like similar pieces by

Johann Kaspar Kerll Johann Caspar Kerll (9 April 1627 – 13 February 1693) was a German Baroque composer and organist. He is also known as Kerl, Gherl, Giovanni Gasparo Cherll and Gaspard Kerle. Born in Adorf in the Electorate of Saxony as the son of an organist, ...

and others, short versets for alternatim practice.

Works

*''Ars magna Consoni et Dissoni in vireto hoc Organico-Instrumentali Musico, vere et practice ab Oculos posita. Das ist: Organisch-Instrumentalischer Kunst-, Zier- und Lust-Garten: in welchem Erstens: Zehen Lehren-reiche, ausserlesene Toccaten, oder Musicalische Blumen-Felder: Zweytens: 8 Magnificat, samt denen darzu gehörigen Praeambulis, Versen, Clausulen &c auf die acht Chor- oder Choral-Thon eingericht: und so dann Drittens: unterschiedliche Arien, mit vielen schönen Variationen, und anderen Galanterien vorgestellt werden'' (Augsburg, 1693)

References

* Fedtke, Traugott (Ed.). (1973). ''Johann Speth. Ars Magna Consoni et Dissoni''. Kassel, Germany: Bärenreiter. * Gwilym Beechey, 'Speth, Johannes', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2007-06-08), http://www.grovemusic.com/ * Gwilym Beechey: 'A 17th-Century German Organ Tutor', in ''Musical Times'' CXIII (1972) * Lukas, Viktor (1986). ''Reclams Orgelmusikführer'' (5th rev. ed.). Stuttgart, Germany: Reclam. * Date of death: Augsburg Matrikeln, Pfarrei St. Ulrich“ Sterbefälle 1726 - 1748, Bild 0226, Johann Speth, Fuggerischer Stiftungsorganist bei St.Ulrich

External links

Scores of Speth's ''Toccata settima'' and ''Toccata octava''
at Kantoreiarchiv {{DEFAULTSORT:Speth, Johannes German Baroque composers German classical organists Organists and composers in the South German tradition 1664 births 18th-century deaths 18th-century German keyboardists 18th-century German classical composers German male classical composers 18th-century German male musicians German male classical organists