Neue Spuren von Johann Valentin Meders Notensammlung

Abstract

Johann Valentin Meder (1649–1719), born in Wasungen near Meiningen in Thuringia, ranks among the most important figures in the music history of the Eastern Baltic area. During his life he must have composed a large number of works, of which only few have survived. Moreover, in view of his activities in numerous different places in Thuringia, Northern Germany, Sweden and Baltics, Meder must surely have become familiar with a wide variety of compositions and styles, though concrete evidence of this is lacking. This paper attempts to reconstruct Meder’s music collection, including both his own works and those of other composers. In the Düben Collection of the Uppsala University Library, several copies of works by other composers are now known to be in Meder’s hand, including a psalm setting by Georg Ludwig Agricola and a sonata by Alessandro Melani. An examination of the estate of the Riga cantor Johann Michael Telemann, which is preserved in the Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin), reveals that Telemann used many old music manuscripts as scrap paper, writing additional parts for his performances on the blank pages. A careful analysis of these fragments has brought to light both shorter and longer fragments of over 50 compositions by Meder, significantly broadening our picture of the composer’s time in Riga.