Johann Schneider (1702-1788)
Prélude et alla breve en sol mineur
Prélude et alla breve en ré majeur
Prélude et alla breve en sol majeur
Prélude et fugue en sol majeur
Trio en la mineur
Vater unser im Himmelreich
Mein Gott, das Herz bring' ich dir

Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721-1783)
Huit Fugues pour orgue

Walter Gatti, orgue

C’est dans l’irremplaçable mine d’informations du Cantata Bach Website que l’on trouve la trace de ce Johann Schneider (1702-1788) organiste, violoniste et compositeur qui fut un élève de Bach à Köthen auprès de qui il approfondit l’orgue et la technique du contrepoint. Après une courte carrière de violoniste d’orchestre à Weimar, il devient titulaire de l’orgue de la Nikolaikkirsche à Leipzig en 1766. Sa fréquentation de Bach et de son contemporain Walther se ressent dans les œuvres présentées ici : même souci de la polyphonie, Préludes, Fugues, Trios et Chorals coulent de l’inépuisable source. L’autre compositeur au programme de ce récital de l’organiste Walter Gatti n’est autre que Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721-1783) que l’on connaît mieux. Lui aussi a sans doute connu Bach lors de son séjour à Leipzig en 1741. Si son corpus instrumental louche vers un style bigarré plus « galant », ses compositions pour l’orgue dont ce recueil de Fugues et de Préludes de choral nous ramène toujours au Cantor (L’élaboration des Préludes et le développement des Fugues). Musique mimétique certes mais d’une belle fraîcheur et d’une incontestable qualité d’invention. L’orgue joué ici, italien et moderne (Dell’Orto & Lanzini 2007) ne gêne en rien. (Jérôme Angouillant)

Johann Schneider was a German organist, violinist and composer (1702, Lautertal–1788, Leipzig). He was a pupil of Nicolas Mueller in his hometown and continued his studies with Johann Hartmann Reinmann in Saalfeld between 1717 and 1720. Around 1720, he became Johann Sebastian Bach's organ and harpsichord pupil in Köthen. In conjunction with his keyboard work with Bach, he studied violin with Johann Gottlieb Graun in Merseburg and with Johann Graf in Rudolstadt. In 1721, Johann Schneider became court organist and first violinist (concertmaster) in Saalfeld in his native Coburg. From 1726 he was employed as violinist in the court chapel in Weimar (Weimarer Hofkapelle), and he was later appointed organist of the Nicolaikirche in Leipzig in 1729, holding this position for the rest of his career. Schneider achieved a commendable reputation as a truly great organist, as Lorenz Mizler quotes: 'His organ preludes are of such good taste in this field, with the exception of Mr. Bach, whose pupil he was, that one cannot hear better in Leipzig'. A small number of his works are contained in the manuscript Mus. Ms. 30377, preserved in the Berlin State Library. His style shows a correlation with that of J.S. Bach, but the influence of the Galant style is also detected in various moments of his music. Johann Philipp Kirnberger was born in Saalfeld in 1721 and died in Berlin in 1783. He received his first training in harpsichord and violin within his family and then continued his studies with the organist Johann Peter Kellner in Gräfenroda. In 1738, he was an organ pupil under Heinrich Nikolaus Gerber in Sondershausen, then pursued further studies with Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig between 1739 and 1741, which proved pivotal to his development. More than a composer, he is remembered as a 'witness' to Bach's work: he took charge of copying much of his master's music. He kept the manuscript of the Brandenburg Concertos and collected several chorales known today as the 'Kirnberger Chorales' in which we find BWV numbers 690 to 731a – sincerely feeling himself vested with the mission of divulging Johann Sebastian Bach's greatness. His personality was that of a didact, and his compositions are predominantly the consequence of his treatises (L'arte di comporre bene, 1774/79). This attitude is exemplified in the Clavierübung compiled between 1762 and 1766 containing pieces structured in order of increasing difficulty and carefully fingered according to the precepts of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. He wrote only a handful of pages for organ: a few sporadic preludes to chorales, the eight fugues for organ or harpsichord (featured on this CD) and a 'Clavierfuge mit dem Contrapunct in der Oktava'. His figure is thus summed up not so much in an innovative spirit as in that of a person careful to pass on the inheritance he received.