Court And Dance Music

Featuring

Lena Jacobson
Marco Facoli
Anonymous
Anonymous (16th century)
August Nörmiger
Anonymous (late 16th century)

Anonymous (Traditional)
Elias Nicolaus Ammerbach
Antonio de Cabezón
Nicolas Carleton
Christoph Löffelholz
Pierre Attaingnant
Jacob Paix
Anonymous (early 17th century)
Anonymous (early 16th century)
Leonhard Kleber
Bernhard Schmid

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Instruments

The organ's case is lavishly decorated with Renaissance copies of classical motifs, carved in different woods such as ash, rowan, pear, and ebony.

Interpretation

The performance on this recording incorporates improvisation in the form of ornamental diminutions, which was an integral part of early organ music performance.

Composer Biography

Esaias Compenius, the organ builder, died in 1617 while supervising the installation of this organ in the palace chapel at Frederiksborg.

Historical Context

The Frederiksborg organ was originally built for entertainment purposes in a court setting, not as a church organ in the traditional sense.

Instruments

The Esaias Compenius Organ (1610) of Frederiksborg Castle is a unique instrument, as all its pipes are made of various choice exotic woods like walnut, pear, and satin-wood.

Compositional Technique

The early keyboard music on this album often features a richly ornamented melody in the upper voice combined with a homophonic, chordal structure, influenced by lute music.

Instruments

The organ features special 'toy' stops for entertainment or effects, including a Sackpfeiffe (drone), a tremulant activated by a rose, and Kleinhiimlichen (bagpipe-like sounds) activated by a 'fool's head'.