>From ma128@fim.uni-erlangen.deTue Sep  5 17:17:56 1995
MUSIC IN RIGA TOWARDS THE END OF THE 16TH CENTURY AND PAULUS
BUCENUS PHILORODUS

by
Paul Madgwick
Universitaet Erlangen
ma128@fim.uni-erlangen.de

When the Soviet Union disintegrated many of the barriers to the
movement of foreign artistes around eastern Europe disappeared and
many specialists in renaissance music had the opportunity to
perform and teach in the Baltic States. The repertoire that these
visiting artistes brought with them is of course the repertoire that
has been thoroughly researched in the last half century from
Italy, France, England and Germany.
 
A very commonly asked question by these visiting artistes when in
the Baltic States is what about your own repertoire?
 
When I tried to answer this question for Riga I found that
the standard musical text books were also of no use.
 
Even looking through a shelf full of standard text books on
Renaissance music in some of the most comprehensive libraries in
England and Germany, I could find nothing of significance about
Riga. In most not even an entry in the index. Try looking up any
other town of similar importance in history, e.g. Luebeck or
Copenhagen or Antwerp and you will find an informative article,
pages of details with musical examples, who the composers were,
where they worked, how much they were paid, by whom etc. etc.
 
When and why did Riga cease to exist in the musical world?
 
I followed up the references which were given in the very few
encyclopedia articles that I found and the first report of any
significance I found was by Elmar Arro writing in the journal
"Musik des Ostens"1. He remarked on precisely the same theme but
in the slightly broader context of the whole Baltic. His question
was "why has the Baltic been abolished from music history?".
Arro's article contains a number of very useful references
foremost among them being the articles by Nicholas Busch, the
former director of the Riga Town Library.2
 
Nicholas Busch seems to have been a catalyst for research into the
musical life of Riga, at the beginning of the 20th century.
Through his efforts, other musicologists of the time became
involved in the study of the music of that area. Among these were
Perl, who wrote a very informative article about Jakob Lotichus,
Daniel Kahde and Kaspar Springer, all musicians in 17th century
Riga.3 Gerhard von Keussler, who researched the Riga cantor,
Paulus Bucenus Philorodus;4 and Ziesemer, who commented on a piece
of music found in a law report dated 1653 in the archives of the
law courts of Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia).5 Among the lines of
research that Nicholas Busch did not complete is the research into
the musician, Martin Crusius of Meissen.6 One of his works was in
the archives of the Blackheads association in Riga before the
war.7
 
By far the most informative study useful in the piecing together
of the music of 16th century Riga is the dissertation by Gunnar
Larsson written in 1961 "Studies of Riga's Music History during
the polish period (1582-1621)".8 The next author I would like to
mention is Stura Hemming, of the Baltic Institute in Stockholm,
who presented a paper during the third conference in Baltic
studies in Scandinavia in 1975 entitled "The Riga Cantor: Paul
Bucenus and his opus musicum ecclesiae Rigensis".9 This paper is
useful in that it summarises the sources of the works of Bucenus
that were known at that time. Unfortunately, this paper is not
widely available or indexed and was not revealed in various
literature searches which I conducted in Germany.
 
As the starting point for gathering repertoire I took the works of
Paulus Bucenus, the Riga cantor, 1578-1586. He also is the only
one of the few Riga composers who has any entry in the major
international catalogues of music source material. The RISM
catalogue of music prints lists incomplete copies of Bucenus' St.
Matthew Passion10 in Vaesteras11, Uppsala12, Wroclaw13 and
Wolfenbuettel14. Eitner's source index15 gives three extra sources
including two printed copies, one at Brieg and the other in Elbing
and a manuscript copy in Vienna. Subsequent investigations showed
that the copy supposedly in Brieg was the one in Wroclaw and of
the library at Elbing was destroyed in the war. What remains of
the Bucenus part books is now in Torun University16. The supposed
manuscript copy in Vienna could not be found. A further manuscript
was located in the Latvian Academic Library in Riga, apparently
copied out in the early twentieth century.
 
The part-books of the St. Matthew passion found were all from the
same edition, the title page of which reads:
 
     "Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi, musicis numeris exonata,
in usum ecclisiae Rigensis, a Paulo Buceno Philorodo, Scholae
Rigensis Cantore. Stetini LXXVIII".
 
The works was printed in Stettin by Andreas Kelner. Some writers
have attempted to read some significance into this fact concluding
that Bucenus must have had some special contact with that city.17
Evidence of this is the appearance of one of his motets and two of
his masses in a collection offered by the town council Cantor Paul
Praetorius to the Stettin town council in 1594.18 It must be born
in mind that Riga had no printers at the time and Kelner in
Stettin was clearly active in printing Lutheran material.19
 
A combination of the copies of the Stettin prints from all sources
gave all voices complete and it was therefore possible to produce
a modern edition of this work.
 
Since then a further copy has been found in the Archive of the
Society of Friend's of Music in Vienna and so has a manuscript
score written out by their former archive director Eusebius
Mandyczewski. I also note that the recently published index of the
Bartfeld Collection in the National Library of Budapest in Hungary
also has a manuscript copy of the work.
 
The modern edition was launched just in time for Easter 1995 by
"Musica Baltica" in Riga. A recent review described the piece as
being very dramatic despite emphasis on homorhythmic textual
declamation and simple chords20. This review was in contrast to a
rather critical commentary on the work written by O. Kade in 1893
in which he accuses Bucenus of avoiding all expressiveness. It is
apparent from Kade's work however, that he was not in possession
of a full set of part books.21
 
The question was then whether any other material written by Paul
Bucenus that is sufficiently complete to be reconstructed. The
most extensive source of his work which is referred to in both
Eitner's Quellenlexikon and Grove's dictionary is the so-called
Poelchau manuscript, Berlin Mus.Ms 40074. This consists of two
volumes, both of which are incomplete. The first survives as two
part-books (cantus and tenor) out of six containing a large number
of motets, some of which bear dedications to politicians of
Bucenus' time. The introduction gives an insight into the
situation at that time. The second volume has survived only as
cantus, tenor and bass and contains twenty-four masses and various
other pieces for the church year. The pieces are for four to eight
parts and therefore no single one is complete. The Poelchau
manuscript is of considerable importance, because it enables us to
attribute Bucenus' pieces to him wherever they are found in other
collections.
 
Several collections containing Bucenus' work are identified in the
literature. One of the major sources is the collection of the
former town library in Breslau (Wroclaw). This collection
disappeared during the war. A major portion of the collection was
returned from Moscow to east Berlin during the 1950s and is now
accessible in the Eastern part of Prussian culture collection in
the Berlin State Library. It is catalogued according to the 19th
century catalogue compiled by E. Bohn22. Before the War this
Breslau collection contained three items with works by Paul
Bucenus; these were Ms15, Ms 97 and Ms 100. Ms 15 and 97 are both
now in Berlin, but Ms 100 is missing. Gerhard von Keussler writing
in the 1930s in a footnote to an article on Paul Bucenus wrote
 
   "I have arranged to have two motets by Bucenus copied in
   Breslau and will report on them at the next opportunity".
 
Von Keussler wrote no more articles and therefore the question was
raised what happened to the copies?
 
After von Keussler had written his article, he moved to Australia.
He then returned to Germany and lived near Berlin and died in the
early 1950's23. After his death, his papers were given to the
Goethe-Schiller Archive in Weimar, including photographs24 made in
Breslau a lot of private correspondence between von Keussler and
Busch25. The correspondence includes long arguments between von
Keussler and Busch about where Bucenus was born, why he composed
in the way he did and all the questions posed by von Keussler
during the research for his article. The correspondence also
describes the copying of the Breslau St. Matthew Passion part
books in the early thirties, i.e. the copies now in the Latvian
Academic Library.
 
Comparing the photographs with copies from Breslau Ms 15 and Ms 97
which were available in Berlin, it was clear that the photos
were from Breslau Ms 100.
 
Item No. 7 in Ms 97 and No. 1 in Ms 100 are the Kyrie and Gloria
of the six-voice Mass, "Super Iam non Dicam." This mass is based
on the eight-voice motet "Iam non Dicam" by the Flemish composer,
Dominique Phinot26. The Mass also appears in the Poelchau
manuscript, Berlin Ms Mus 40074, Vol. 2 No. 5 but only as Cantus,
Tenor and Bassus although in that source it also includes Sanctus
and Agnus Dei, both with Latin texts. A modern edition of this
work is now in preparation.
 
Breslau Ms 15 contains five out of six voices of the motet, "Vitam
quae faciunt beatiorem" which could be confirmed as genuine by
comparison with the Poelchau manuscript. The missing voice of this
item can be supplied from a set of part-books in the Vaesteras
Town Library27. The Vaesteras part-books were copied by a rather
careless scribe and therefore the main difficulty is to sort out
copying errors. Luckily there are no significant other differences
between the two sources. A further source of this piece is call
mark i.hs 76g at Uppsala University.
 
"Vitam quae faciunt beatiorem" is a rather interesting motet in
that its first phrase follows exactly both the text and the
musical setting of a secular work by the Flemish composer, Jacques
Arcadelt28. Arcadelt's text is by the ancient Roman poet, Martial.
The melody is however from the hymn "Gaudete, Gaudete Christus
Natus Est" which also appears in Piae Cantiones, a work collected
by two Finns, Jako Finno and Theodorikes Petri Rootar, and
published in Greifswald 158229. The Martial text used by Jacques
Arcadelt reads as follows:
 
   The things that make life more blessed my dear Martial are
   these:
   Money obtained not by work but inherited, not unproductive
   land, an unfailing fireplace, no law suits, a gown rarely worn,
   a mind at peace, a gentleman's strength, a healthy body ...30.
 
This text had already been set in 1558 by the Flemish composer,
Jacobus Vaet. Such a sentiment as to gain money without work would
certainly not be in line with strict Lutheran sentiment so in
Bucenus' setting he switches into the text of Psalm 127 (128)
exactly at the point where the Martial text mentions money
obtained not by work. The corresponding passage in the Psalm is
   
   "let your food be the product of the labour of your hands".
   
The remainder of the text follows a paraphrase of the Psalm text.
Another similar example of the use of Martial's opening is found
in a motet from 1568 by Christian Hollander, who, follows it by
the ten Commandments. The motet "Vitam quae faciunt beatiorem" is
in two parts, the second part beginning with the words "sic fidus
benedicitur maritus". The text however is continuous through the
two parts.
 
Another motet which can be readily re-constructed is the five
voice setting of "Converte Domine". This is indexed in Eitner's
Quellenlexikon under a misspelling of the composer's name. A
comparison with the Poelchau manuscript confirmed that the copies
listed in Eitner as being in Zwickau were indeed by Paul Bucenus
Philorodus31. The source is complete. A further source containing
two voices of the motet is Berlin Ms 40210 No. 53.
 
The text of the motet is from Psalm 125 (126) "Convert O Lord our
Captivity. Those who sow in tears will reap in Exultation." Most
striking about this piece is the word painting, particularly in
the setting of "Qui seminant in lachrymis".
 
The only remaining work identified as being by Paulus Bucenus in
sources other than in the Poelchau manuscript is "Tota pulcra es"
in Dresden32. This regrettably survives only as a bass voice, thus
making a total of only three out of the original six voices when
taken together with the voices in Ms 40074. Clearly more work is
necessary to comb through the hundreds of collected volumes
throughout north and eastern Europe
 
The next question to address is what do we know about the life of
Paulus Bucenus and the institutions in which he worked?
 
Two pieces of evidence exist concerning Bucenus' origin. The first
evidence is his name; Paulus Bucenus Philorodus. Butzen is a small
town in Germany just south of Frankfurt an der Oder. The closest
major town is Liebrose. Translating the syllables "Lieb" and
"Rose" individually into Greek produces Philorhodus. The second is
his entry in the matriculation lists of Greifswald University,
where he is identified as "Paulus Bucenus, Philorhodus, Holsata"
indicating that he came from Holstein.33
 
In correspondence between Gerhard von Keussler and Nikolaus Busch
it was pointed out that Bucenus may have indicated that he was
from Holstein and thus relatively local to Greifswald University
in order to obtain the free scholarship to that university.34
Certainly the co-incidence of proximity of Butzen and Liebrose is
too great to ignore. A check of the Potsdam Staatsarchiv, where
the records of Liebrose are kept has revealed a family Butzena in
Liebrose at the relevant time, but nothing more conclusive. An
investigation of the records of Holstein, may cast further light
on this issue.
 
The next trace of Paulus Bucenus comes from two letters in the
archives of the Gymnasium at Thorn (now Torun, Poland).35 Both of
these letter are complaints by Bucenus about his pay while in the
service of the school. In one of the letters Bucenus mentions that
he is not receiving as much pay as he had in previous employment
with the Hauptmann von Soldau. The Soldau referred to may be the
town between Koenigsberg and Warsaw, now called Dzialdowo. Also of
possible relevance is the fact that the founder of the school
Heinrick Strohband married Catherine Soldau on 9th May 1574.
Bucenus' position in Thorn is somewhat of a mystery. He signs the
letters
 
     "Paulus Bucenus Philorodus Cantor".
 
The school was, however, founded in 1568 with a staff of 10
including a cantor Andreas Thulmeiner. Thulmeiner remained in
office until 1573. He was succeeded by Georg Oppel in 1574, who
remained in the post until 1600.36 There would therefore appear to
have been no time during which Paulus Bucenus could have occupied
the post of cantor. The cantor was however assisted by a succentor
whose duties were to conduct the mass and vespers as well as
provide music for simple funerals.37 It is possible that Bucenus
occupied that position during the time that Thulmeiner or Oppel
was the actual cantor. A further study in the archives of the
School held both in the Torun Town library 38 and the town
archives 39 will be necessary to resolve this question.
 
The school at which he taught in Torun was of a remarkable similar
structure to the cathedral school where he spent the end of his
career in Riga.40
 
Returning to his life in Riga, the Padel diaries give the date of
Bucenus' marriage as 29th September 1583 and his death as 15th
February 1586.41 Viecken's "Short description"42 talks about the
performance of music at the time of the entry of the King, Stephen
of Poland in 1581.
 
   "On the gate was the Cantor with his boys and the instruments;
   and the Cantor had composed the piece that was sung and was
   played on the instruments to honour the King."
   
The Cantor referred to could easily have been Paulus Bucenus
Philorodus as the first item in the Poelchau manuscript is a
greeting to King Stephen "Vivat Stephanus Rex Poloniae pater
Patriae"
 
So far we have considered essentially vocal music. The
introduction to the Poelchau manuscript however reads
 
   "Some sacred songs for six voices in three kinds of
   counterpoint arranged with musical instruments and most
   suitable for schools....".
 
In Viecken's "Short Decription" instruments are also mentioned.
More details on this point can be found in two files in the
Latvian State archives.43 which contain the papers relating to
engagement and licensing of musicians by the Riga council. Only
the first few papers of the first file come from the 16th century.
These show that at the time that Paulus Bucenus Philorodus was
cantor, Johann Lichtwer and his four journeyman were the official
town musicians. Johann Lichtwers's duties and rate of pay are set
out in a "Bestallungs Urkunde" dated February 1575. The first duty
listed involved working with the cantor and his boys in the
evening and early mass. Lichtwer's duties were redefined in 1592
and concentrated more on the duties of fire watch and protection
in time of war. Again there is mention of playing in "both
churches", presumably St. Peters and the Dom. Pages 27-28 from
file 1184 is interesting as it is a list of music and instruments
in the possession of the town musicians in 1634.
 
Further line for investigation are the records of the guilds and
the Blackheads society44. In the field of sacred music it must not
be forgotten that their was a Jesuit presence in Riga from 1582,
which brought with it music.45 Clearly a great deal of work still
needs to be done.
 
 
 
REFERENCES
 
1. Arro, Elmar "Die deutschbaltische Liedschule" in Musik des
     Ostens Vol. 3: pages 175-239; Marburg 1965.
2. Busch, Nikolaus see particularly "Zur Geschichte des Rigaer
     Musiklebens in 17. Jahrhundert." in Sitzungsbericht der
     Gesellschaft fuer Geschichte und Altertumskunde der
     Ostseeprovinzen Russlands aus der Jahre 1910 pages 25-32;
     Riga 1910 and "Alt-Rigas Musikkultur" in Baltische
     Monatshefte Vol. 11: pages 642-654; Riga   November 1937. For
     a full list of Busch's publications see Arbusow, Leonid
     "Nachgelassene Schriften von Dr. phil. h. c. Nikolaus Busch
     Stadtbibliothekar zu Riga" Riga 1934
3. Perl, Carl Johann "Drei Musiker des 17. Jahrhunderts in Riga"
     in Zeitschrift fuer Musikwissenschaft Vol. 12: pages 703-713;
     1919
4. Keussler, Gerhard von "Paulus Bucaenus" in Abhandlungen der
     Herder-Gesellschaft und das Herder-Institut zu Riga Vol. 4
     No.1: pages 1-20; G. Loeffler Riga 1931.
5. Ziesemer, Walter "Ein Beitrag zur Liedgeschichte des
     17.Jahrhunderts. (Ein Dorpater Pasquill von Jahre 1653.)" in
     Zeitschrift fuer Volkskunde Vol. 1: pages 76-84; Berlin und
     Leipzig 1929
6. Goetz, Wilhelm letter in Latvian Academic Library dated 22
     December 1931 to N. Busch explaining that the Meisen Crusius
     could not have had any obvious connection with a Tuebbingen
     Crusius.
7. Crusius (Misnicus), Martinus "Harmonia Sacra 6 voc. concinnata
     In laudem et Honorem ..." Riga 1596. A manuscript copy of
     this piece (probably early 20th century) is in the Latvian
     Academic Library the original was in the archive of the Riga
     Blackheads Society (call mark No. 40 Sammelband).
8. Larsson, Gunnar "Studier i rigas Musikhistoria under polska
     tiden (1582-1621)" Vren 1961
9. Hemming, Sture "Rigakantor Paulus Bucenus und sein Opus Musicum
     Ecclesiae" in Papers presented at The Third Conference on
     Baltic Studies in Scandinavia  Vol. 2: pages 261-265;
     Stockholm 1977
10. Repertoire Interntional des Sources Musicales B 4860
11. Stadsbiblioteket
12. Uppsala University call mark Utl. vok. mus.tr.966
13. Wroclaw University call mark 51413 Muz
14. Wolfenbuettel Herzog August Library call mark 173 Musica div.
15. Eitner, Robert "Bucenus (Bucaenus), Paulus, Philorodus (ein
     Ort?) Scholae Rigensis Cantore." in Quellen Lexicon pages
     221-222.
16. Torun University call mark Zboiry MuzyczUse of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at E:\listplex\SYSTEM\SCRIPTS\filearea.cgi line 455, <FH> line 476.
ne V813
17. Kittler, Guenther "Die pommischen Notendrucke bis Ende des 17.
     Jahrhunderts (1. Teil)" in Musik in Pommern Vol. 4: pages
     175-202; 1935
18. Schwartz, Rudolf "Der Stettiner Ratskantor Paul Praetorius
     (Schultz) 1520-1597)" in Gedenkboek aangeboden aan Dr. D. F.
     Scheurleer op zijn 70sten Verjaardag" s-Gravenhage 1925 p 288
     and Ruhnke, Martin "Beitraege zu einer Geschichte der
     deutschen Hofmusikkollegien im 16. Jahrhundert"  p 152 Berlin
     1963.
19. Bake, Werner "Die Fruehzeit des pommerschen Buchdrucks" Pyritz
     1934 Verzeichnis p 171.
20. Bartlett, Clifford "A Rigan Passion" in "Early Music Review",
     No. 12, England, July 1995
21. Kade, O. "Paulus Bucenus (Philorodus)" in Die
     Passionskompositionen pages 43-45; 1893.
22. Bohn, Emil "Die musikalischen Handschriften des XVI. und XVII.
     Jahrhunderts in der Stadtbibliothek zu Breslau", Breslau 1890.
23. Siemens, Egon "Gerhard von Keussler" (Obituary) in Musica Vol.
     4: pages 210-211; 1950. See also the article by Kroll, Erwin
     "Keussler, Gerhard von" in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart
     Vol. 7: pages 867-869; Kassel 1949
24. Bucenus, Paulus "Missa Sex Vocum super Iam non dicam"
     Photographs from  Ms Mus. 100 Breslau 1932. Goethe-Schiller
     Archive, Weimar call-mark: GSA 53/516
25. Keussler Busch correspondence Goethe-Schiller Archive, Weimar
     call-mark: GSA 531 826. Busch Keussler correspondence Goethe-
     Schiller Archive, Weimar call-mark: GSA 531 470
26. CMM Vol.IV, No. 15
27. Vaesteras Stadsbiblioteket, Ms 67
28. CMM Vol. viii Arcadelt - Opera Omnia
29. Petri Theodorici "Piae Cantiones Ecclesiasticae et
     Scholasticae ...."     1982
30. Martial Epigrams, Book X, No. 47
31. Zwickau Ratsschulbibliothek Sammelhandschrift 10 No. 330
32. Steude, Wolfram "Die Musiksammelhandschriften des 16 und 17
     Jahrhunderts in der Saechsischen Landesbibliothek zu Dresden"
     and Mus. I/D/6 No. 87
33. Friedlaender, Ernst "Aeltere Universitaets- Matrikeln
     (Universitaet Greifswald)" in Publicationen aus den K.
     Preussischen Staatsarchiven Vol. 1: pages 292; Leipzig 1893
     for lists students and teachers at Greifswald University. See
     also Pietzch, Gerhard "Zur Pflege der Musik an den deutschen
     Universitaeten bis zur Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts" Darnstadt
     1971.
34. Keussler/Busch correspondence from 1931 in Goethe-Schiller
     Archive, Weimar GSA 531 826; 531 470.
35. Waschinski, Emil "Das Thorner Stadt- und Landschulwesen vom
     Begin der Reformation bis zum Ende der polnischen Herrschaft"
     in Zeitschrift des Westpreussischen Geschichtsvereins Vol.
     56: pages 1-133; Danzig 1916 and Torun X 4 No. 49 & X 2
     No.59.
36. Lehnerdt A. "Fest program des Koeniglichen evangelischen
     Gymnasiums zu Thorn" Thorn 1868 pp 31-36.
37. Heuer R. "Das Thorner Gymnasium im Jahre 1600" Thorn 1918
38. Ul. Slowackiego 8, Torun.
39. Archiwum Panstwowe, Plac Rapackiego 4, 87-100 Torun.
40. Schweder, G. "Die alte Domschule und das daraus
     hervorgegangene Stadt-Gymnasium zu Riga" Riga 1910 gives
     details of the structure of the Cathedral School in Riga.
41. Padel, Caspar "Tagebuch" in Mittheilungen aus dem Gebiete der
     Geschichte Liv- Est und Kurlands Vol. 13: pages 386-391; Riga
     1886.
42. Viecken, Gotthard "Kurtze Beschreibung was sich denkwurdieger
     zu Riga begeben und zu getragen von Anno 1521 bis Anno 1589."
     Latvian State Archives call-mark: Fond 4038 list 2 Nos 90,
     90a, 92, 93, 94, 305, & 306.
43. Fond 673 Aeusseres Ratsarchiv" No. 1184 "Bestallung der
     Spielleute" continued in No. 246 "Musikanten und andere
     Kuenstler"
44. Latvian State Archive Fond 4922
45. See Larsson Gunnar cited above for a discussion of Jesuit
     material formerly in Riga and now in Uppsala University
     Library. (Ms. 88.)