Johann Heinrich Buttstett
Johann Heinrich Buttstett (also Buttstedt, Buttstädt) (25 April 1666 – December 1, 1727) was a German Baroque organist and composer. Although he was Johann Pachelbel's most important pupil and one of the last major exponents of the south German organ tradition, Buttstett is best remembered for a dispute with Johann Mattheson.
Life
Buttstett was born in
In 1716, Buttstett published Ut, mi, sol, re, fa, la, tota musica et harmonia aeterna, a work directed against Johann Mattheson's first major treatise. Mattheson was a progressive thinker who embraced the coming of the Classical style and miscellaneous modern principles aimed at widespread music education (limited to teaching 18th century styles of French and Italian secular music), whereas Buttstett sought to defend the musical tradition of the past: from basic practical things like the use of solmization and composing with the Greek modes to the global concepts of music and harmony that were used during the past several centuries.
Buttstett was somewhat acclaimed as a teacher during his years at the Predigerkirche, surrounding himself with a circle of pupils. The most important composer to receive musical training from him was Johann Gottfried Walther.
He died in Erfurt aged 61.
Works
Aside from a lost sacred
Musicalische Clavier-Kunst also contains a few dance suites, with obvious French influences and somewhat different from the typical German suite of the time.
A particularly interesting fugue by Buttstett is found in the so-called Andreas Bach manuscript . It features an extreme example of a repercussion subject, which includes a leap of a diminished 7th:
Repercussion is also used throughout the fugue, sometimes applied to full chords in both hands.
Recordings (selection)
- Johann Heinrich Buttstett - Helga Schauerte-Maubouet at the Silbermann Organ in Rötha (Syrius, 141334), 1998
References
- Hans Tischler, Willi Apel: The History of Keyboard Music to 1700 (Indiana University Press, 1972), ISBN 0-253-21141-7
- George J. Buelow: "Buttstett, Johann Heinrich", in (subscription access).
External links
- Free scores by Johann Heinrich Buttstett at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Scott M. Elsholz. Opening a forgotten cabinet: Johann Heinrich Buttstett’s Musicalische Clavier=Kunst und Vorraths=Kammer (1713) Indiana University, May 2013.