Paul Siefert - Music

Music

His first book of Psalmen Davids consists of two concertos for three and four voices and twelve settings for four and five voices of material drawn from the Calvinist Goudimel-Lobwasser psalter of the Reformed Church. The form used is that of the chorale motet, the instrumental parts having little significance, mainly doubling the voices. Psalmorum Davidicorum II consists of fifteen psalms for four to eight voices, a concerto for four voices, and an eight-part instrumental canzona; the works are antecedents of the concertato chorale motet and the chorale cantata; there are instrumental preludes and ritornellos, and alternating sections of solo and tutti passages.

His keyboard works bear some similarity to Sweelinck, but are not generally of a high quality. The highly ornamented line is usually played by the right hand with the chorale underneath. This texture is interrupted by episodes exploiting effects of harmony and colour.

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