S-L Engelhart 216

The opening of BuxWV 147 in S-L Engelhart 216

S-L Engelhart 216 is a manuscript which contains the Preludium in G Major by Dietrich Buxtehude and is held in the Universitetsbiblioteket, Lund.

Description

The manuscript is written in New German Tablature Notation. It adheres to the older tradition in notating organ music in which the final note of each voice is written with a fermata (meaning to hold it to the end) instead of supplying the necessary number of ties and supplementary notes. It includes some ornaments (all are placed under the note it affects), one resembling a diagonal pound symbol, and another resembling a type of tremblement. One unique feature that is found in this manuscript is that some small notes (pitch names) are written in-between other notes, some with and others without corresponding rhythmic symbols.

The hand is unidentified, but perhaps the manuscript was copied around 1710-1720 by Heinrich Christopher Engelhardt.

On the question of proximity to Buxtehude, it has been theorized that this is a copy of an autograph by Buxtehude (a "first-generation" copy, so to say). The features that support this theory include

• The inclusion of "I.N.I." on the title page,
• The writing of the name "Buxtehude" appearing to be in manu propria style,
• The similarity with some of the letters of tablature to those in known Buxtehude autographs.

References

S-L Engelhart 216 Online facsimile: www.alvin-portal.org accessed 20 July, 2023, mirrored IMSLP⁸⁵⁴²⁹⁰.

Belotti, Michael (editor), Dietrich Buxtehude: The Collected works. Vol.15, "Orekydesm Toccatas, and Ciacconas for Organ (pedaliter) (Section B: Commentary)." New York: The Broude Trust, 1998. 6-7.