Otmar Nachtgall
Otmar Nachtgall (1480-1537), also known as Othmar and Luscinius, was a priest, organist, and Humanist of the early Renaissance. His arrangement of the popular song "Ein fröhlich Wesen" survives, ornamented, in the tablature of Leonhard Kleber, along with two other compositions, "In patientia vestra" and a "Fortuna" setting.
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Biography
Luscinius was born in Strasbourg, then a free imperial city, and studied various arts in Heidelberg, Leuven, and Vienna. After finishing his studies, being ordained a priest, and travelling to the former Greek empire, he returned to Strasbourg in 1514 and soon achieved several noteworthy positions in local churches. Having earned a doctorate in law at Padua, he moved to Augsburg in 1523, and again to Freiburg im Breisgau in 1529. He died at the local Carthusian monastery.
Aside from the aforementioned compositions, Luscinius had two musical treatises published: the first, Institutiones musicae from 1515, contains lectures he previously gave at the university of Vienna, while the latter, Musurgia seu praxis musicae (written in 1518 and published in 1536), includes a Latin version of Virdung's Musica getutscht. In the first book, the author gives extensive praise to his contemporary, organist Paul Hofhaimer.
| Folio | Title (modernised) | Title in index | Title in situ | Incipit | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28v-29r | Ein fröhlich Wesen | Fr. we. in re | .A. f. w. / .M. O. N. |
![<< \clef alto \omit Score.TimeSignature
\relative c' { \set Timing.measureLength = #(ly:make-moment 2/4) \once \omit Stem d4*2 d4 d f16[ g a g] a[ g f e] \bar "" }
\\ \relative c { \set Timing.measureLength = #(ly:make-moment 2/4) d16[ c d e] f[ d g8] f[ bes16 a] a[ g f e] d[ e f e] f[ e d c] \bar "" }
>>](/wiki/images/lilypond/l/h/lh9toog7n3e6edldt6dsdshtxq81it1/lh9toog7.png) |
Descant part after Barbireau's original three-part setting of the song Een vroylic wesen. |
[1][2] |
| 113r-114r | In patientia vestra | In paciencia } Trium } In Sol. | In pacientia / vestra. (above title) ∴M. Othmarus Nachtgal 1516 (above incipit) Luscinii 1516 |
![<< \clef alto \omit Score.TimeSignature
\relative c' { \set Timing.measureLength = #(ly:make-moment 2/4) e\breve*1/4\rest g4 f g a bes c bes8[ a8.\mordent] g16[ f e] \bar "" }
\\ \relative c' { \set Timing.measureLength = #(ly:make-moment 2/4) g4 f g a bes8 c4 bes16 a g8[ g'] e[ f] g[ f8.] e16[ d c] \bar "" }
>>](/wiki/images/lilypond/3/z/3z2expzwyo5kx0q7srmnepbforen6tz/3z2expzw.png) |
Plainchant set pedaliter in lengths of a triple semibrevis, in contrast to the upper parts, which are in cut time. |
[3] |
| 133v-135r | Fortuna desperata | Fortuna Trium } Tenor in Bassu. } In fa | Fortuna / .m. o. n. / .trium. (to the side) .In Fa. / Tenor pedaliter. |
 |
Uses the tenor of the original Italian song as a cantus firmus. | [4][5] |
References
Niemöller, K. W. (2001). Luscinius [Nachtgall], Othmar. in: Grove Music Online.
Loewenfeld, H. (1897). Leonhard Kleber und sein Orgeltabulaturbuch als Beitrag zur Geschichte der Orgelmusik im beginnenden XVI. Jahrhundert. Doctoral dissertation, Humboldt University, Berlin (then Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin).
- ↑ Fox, Ch. W. (1937). Ein Fröhlich Wesen: The career of a German song in the sixteenth century. University of California Press.
- ↑ digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de, accessed on 28 October 2024.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ "Fortuna desperata: Thirty-Six Settings of an Italian Song" (ed. Honey Meconi, A-R Editions, Middleton 2001) comments on the existence of keyboard intabulations, but includes none in its work-list.
