Musical contribution - October 2013

Terzett (Justin Heinrich Knecht, 1752-1817) - Justin Heinrich was born and died in Biberach (South West Germany). He received his first organ lessons from his father. He later studied with various other organists. He was appointed as organist at the Martinuskerk in his place of residence at the age of 40. One extraordinary thing is that this church was used by both the Lutherans as well as the Catholics. Knecht didn’t just compose many different pieces, he also wrote a “Vollständige Orgelschule”. This method was used until well into the 20th century. Beethoven also owned a copy of this work.

The composition we are now looking at comes from this “Orgelschule”. It really is a very nice piece of music. The style and idiom perfectly fits in with the school of Viennese classics.

Knecht himself recommended the following registration:

If manual II’s 8’ is strong enough, then it’s a nice idea to leave out the 4’ and to also not use the pedal’s 16’. This would make it sound just like a “Flötenuhr” by Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven.

With Kind Regards,
André van Vliet