Born: Unkonwn date and place
Died: 1685 - Lüneburg, Germany

The German composer composer and organist, Peter Morhard [Mohrhardt, Mohrhart], is first heard of in 1662, when he became organist of the Michaeliskirche, Lüneburg. He held the post until his death and was succeeded in it by his eldest son, Friedrich.

Peter Morhard's nine surviving chorale arrangements, which were recorded about 1670 in tablature by his Lüneburg colleague, Heinrich Baltzar Wedemann, show typical stylistic features of the generation of north German organists between the pupils of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and Dietrich Buxtehude, though in the quality of their contrapuntal writing they fall short of works by, for instance, Matthias Weckmann or Franz Tunder. They show the influence of Johann Heinrich Scheidemann, but it does not follow that he must have been his pupil. The types of chorale arrangement that Morhard took over from Scheidemann were almost exclusively the modern ones, for example the organ chorale with decorated cantus firmus and above all the chorale fantasia typified by its virtuosity, refined sonority and plentiful use of echo effects, the latter a particularly notable hallmark of Morhard's style.

Works

Organ arrangements:
Ky; Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ; Alle Welt, was lebt [kreucht] und webet; Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir; Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ; Herr Gott, dich loben wir [with prelude]; Meine Seele erhebt den Herren; Wacht auf, ihr Christen alle; Was fürchtst du, Feind Herodes, sehr: D-Lr; all ed. in CEKM, xxiii (1973)

11 vocal works, formerly in Lm according to Seiffert, now lost
1 cantata, formerly in library of the Jakobikirche, Stettin, according to Freytag, now lost
1 sonata, 2 vn, 2 va, bn, bc; lost, cited in WaltherML

Source: Grove Music Online, © Oxford University Press 2006, acc. 1/23/06 (Author: Werner Breig, with Pieter Dirksen)
Contributed by Thomas Braatz (January 2006)

Use of Chorale Melodies in his works

Title

Chorale Melody

Year

Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Chorale Prelude for Organ

Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ

Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, Chorale Prelude for Organ

Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir

Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, Chorale Prelude for Organ

Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ

Organ arrangement: Herr Gott, dich loben wir [with prelude]

Herr Gott, dich loben wir [The German Tedeum]

Links to other Sites

Bibliography

ApelG | WaltherML
M. Seiffert: ‘Die Chorbibliothek der St. Michaelisschule in Lüneburg zu Seb. Bach's Zeit’, SIMG, ix (1907–8), 593–621
F. Dietrich: Geschichte des deutschen Orgelchorals im 17. Jahrhundert (Kassel, 1932), 59–60
H. Walter: Musikgeschichte der Stadt Lüneburg (Tutzing, 1967)
C. Lasell: Origins of the Lüneburg Organ and Clavier Tablatures (forthcoming)

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