Schmid, Bernhard Jr. (EN)

Schmid, Schmidt, Schmitt, Bernhard Jr., baptised on 1 April 1567 Strasbourg, †before 5 November (?) 1625 Strasbourg (?), German organist and composer, son of Bernhard Sr. Following his father’s example, he served in Strasbourg from 1589 to 1592 and then at the cathedral from 1 April 1592 to 4 November 1625. He also performed in other city churches and was often sought out as an expert in assessing instruments. He published a collection entitled Tabulatur Buch… (Strasbourg, 1607). At the beginning of the collection, he included, changing the notation to German tablature (new), 30 Intonazione by A. and G. Gabrieli (he calls them preludes) and 8 toccatas by the aforementioned composers, G. Diruta, and C. Merulo; then his own intabulations of 12 motets for 4–6 voices by Italian and German composers, 16 canzonettas and madrigals for 4–6 voices by Italian composers along with J. and H.L. Hassler; the next group also consists of his intabulations of Italian canzonettas for 4 voices, which Schmid, however, calls fugues (“fugues, or as the Italians call them, Canzoni alla Francese”); the collection closes with two passamezzo-saltarello sets (based on a harmonically complex moderno scheme) and 12 galliards. All intabulations and dances are richly ornamented by Schmid. A comparison of his collection with his father’s repertoire reveals a striking shift that took place at the end of the 16th century towards Italian music, including vocal music. The son draws on vocal models almost exclusively from Italian composers, not only the most prominent ones (Rore, Marenzio, Striggio, Vecchi) but also those who are little known today (Brignoli, Orlandini, Sambucci, and many others); he even gives the Hasslers’ names in Italianized form.

Literature: J.F. Lobstein Beiträge zur Geschichte der Musik im Elsass, und besonders in Strassburg, von den ältesten bis auf die neueste Zeit, Strasbourg 1840; M. Vogeleis Quellen und Bausteine zu einer Geschichte der Musik und des Theaters im Elsass 500-1800, Strasbourg 1911; W. Merian Der Tanz in den deutschen Tabulaturbüchern, Leipzig 1927, reprint Hildesheim-Wiesbaden 1968 (contains a thematic catalog Tabulatur Buch and transcription of two passamezzo-saltarello sets by Schmid); R.J. Gardner The Tabulatur Buch by Bernhard Schmid, master’s thesis, University of Rochester, 1953; C.W. Young The Keyboard Tablatures of Bernhard Schmid, Father and Son, dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana, 1957; C.W. Young Keyboard Music to 1600, “Musica Disciplina” vol. 16, 1962; H.M. Brown Instrumental Music Printed before 1600: A Bibliography, Cambridge 1967; A. Lawrence The Use of Galliard Rhythms in the Keyboard Tablature of Bernhard Schmid, the Younger (1607), master’s thesis, Stanford University, 1967; R.J. Thomson The Keyboard Intabulations by Bernard Schmid II of the Twelve Vocal Motets in his Tabulatur Buch … of 1607, master’s thesis, American University, 1973; M. Honegger La place de Strasbourg dans la musique au XVIe siècle, “International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music” XIII, 1982; C. Johnson Vocal Compositions in German Organ Tablatures 1550–1650, New York 1989; J.C. Revel Les douze motets de la tablature Bernhard Schmid Le Jeune, master’s thesis, Université Paris Sorbonne, 1995.