Biography
Franz Tunder stands out as a pivotal and far-reaching presence in the early development of north German Baroque music. Recent scholarship places his birth in Lübeck rather than Bannersdorf on the Island of Fehmarn, the location long cited in standard accounts; it was in Lübeck that he would pass the greater part of his life. During his formative years he journeyed widely, pursuing musical studies first in Burg and then in Copenhagen, where the noted Dutch composer Melchior Borchgrevinck served as his teacher. Upon his appointment as organist at the court of Duke Friedrich III of Holstein-Gottorf, Tunder’s preparation included a period in Florence under the guidance of Girolamo Frescobaldi. In 1641 he secured the distinguished role of organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck and held that position for the remaining twenty-six years of his life, dying at roughly fifty-six.
Although the body of music Tunder left behind is limited, it carries considerable weight: fifteen organ compositions that encompass chorale settings and preludes, a single orchestral sinfonia once attached to a now-vanished motet, and seventeen vocal concertos grouped under the heading Abendmusiken. The vocal concertos constitute his principal achievement. In 1646, funding the enterprise himself, he inaugurated what is recognized as Germany’s first documented series of public concerts. These evening presentations began as solo organ recitals inside the Marienkirche; before long Tunder expanded the forces to include singers and a small violin ensemble, thereby establishing the practice known as Abendmusik. Written for solo voices and modest orchestra with organ, the concertos employ sacred texts in Latin and German, yet they were never intended for liturgical use and instead served to satisfy the musical appetite of an audience whose preferences leaned toward devotional themes.
Dietrich Buxtehude succeeded Tunder in the Marienkirche post and also married one of his daughters, a pattern typical of seventeenth-century German organist successions. Buxtehude sustained and elevated the Abendmusik series to such a degree that he is frequently credited as its originator, yet the format had already been introduced by Tunder. The surviving works demonstrate the emergence of the foundational north German Baroque idiom that would, within a few generations, reach Johann Sebastian Bach—an idiom grounded in Reformation hymn tunes and enriched by Italian conceptions of texture and scoring.
Although the body of music Tunder left behind is limited, it carries considerable weight: fifteen organ compositions that encompass chorale settings and preludes, a single orchestral sinfonia once attached to a now-vanished motet, and seventeen vocal concertos grouped under the heading Abendmusiken. The vocal concertos constitute his principal achievement. In 1646, funding the enterprise himself, he inaugurated what is recognized as Germany’s first documented series of public concerts. These evening presentations began as solo organ recitals inside the Marienkirche; before long Tunder expanded the forces to include singers and a small violin ensemble, thereby establishing the practice known as Abendmusik. Written for solo voices and modest orchestra with organ, the concertos employ sacred texts in Latin and German, yet they were never intended for liturgical use and instead served to satisfy the musical appetite of an audience whose preferences leaned toward devotional themes.
Dietrich Buxtehude succeeded Tunder in the Marienkirche post and also married one of his daughters, a pattern typical of seventeenth-century German organist successions. Buxtehude sustained and elevated the Abendmusik series to such a degree that he is frequently credited as its originator, yet the format had already been introduced by Tunder. The surviving works demonstrate the emergence of the foundational north German Baroque idiom that would, within a few generations, reach Johann Sebastian Bach—an idiom grounded in Reformation hymn tunes and enriched by Italian conceptions of texture and scoring.