Reincken; Singers

There are worse ways to spend a mid-September afternoon than sitting out on the back porch, listening to Reincken's Hortus Musicus. Johann Adam Reincken is one of those composers you've probably never heard of, unless you're an organist, and that's a pity. I happen to be learning his chorale-fantasia on An Wasserflüssen Babylon, and it is very impressive writing. Reincken's known output is quite small, most likely because so much has been lost. Johann Mattheson attributed Reincken's low output to his proclivities for wine and women, which is certainly a more interesting explanation, but not entirely fair: it was probably just sour grapes, as Mattheson made an unsuccessful bid to replace Reincken at the Hamburg Katharinenkirche in 1705.
* * *
You may not be aware that I now have a second job, namely, that of an accompanist at a Lutheran school over in Elkhart. While I've never especially enjoyed being around children, it is good to acquire experience working with them, I suppose. It being a private school, they are at least not so irritating as most children one sees in public. In any case, it is not my job to discipline them.

Whereas most adults are hesitant to sing in public — observe the national anthem at a game sometime, or simply attend Mass — a good eighty percent of children are quite robust singers. (It is a Lutheran school, which would suggest that these children are predisposed towards better singing than their Roman Catholic or Evangelical or agnostic counterparts, but I do not think that this is the case.) When exposed to music good and early in their lives, children are surprisingly quick to learn, and quite fearless. (It is interesting to note, though, that even as children some are unable to match pitch when surrounded by a sea of unisons. Perhaps a blighted few just aren't meant to sing, but these are to be pitied. I remain convinced that there are far more potential singers out there than actually avail themselves of the opportunity to do so, in church or elsewhere.) Oh, would that all children received adequate musical educations! Then perhaps we might all be able to sing four-part hymnody, as God and Bach intended.