Andreas Werckmeister

• Background — person • Name — Andreas Werckmeister • Born — November 30, 1645 • Birthplace — Benneckenstein, Germany • Died — October 26, 1706 • Place of death — Halberstadt • Genre — Baroque • Occupation — Organist, Music theorist, Composer • Instrument — Organ

Born in Benneckenstein, Werckmeister attended schools in Nordhausen and Quedlinburg. He received his musical training from his uncles Heinrich Christian Werckmeister and Heinrich Victor Werckmeister. In 1664 he became an organist in Hasselfelde; ten years later in Elbingerode; and in 1696 of the Martinskirche in Halberstadt. He died in Halberstadt.

Werckmeister is best known today as a theorist, in particular through his writings Musicae mathematicae hodegus curiosus... (1687) and Musikalische Temperatur (1691), in which he described a system now referred to as well temperament (in which all keys are playable, as in J. S. Bach's later work The Well-Tempered Clavier) now known as Werckmeister temperament. The system distributes the Pythagorean comma among the four fifths G–D, D–A, A–E, and B–F♯, such that each is flattened by one-fourth of the comma (approximately 5.865 cents), leaving the remaining eight fifths as 3:2 proportions; this tended toward somewhat wider thirds than in equal temperament. • Illustration — Title page of Andreas Werckmeister, Orgelprobe (1698). Werckmeister's writings – particularly his writings on counterpoint – were well known to Johann Sebastian Bach. Werckmeister believed that well-crafted counterpoint, especially invertible counterpoint, was tied to the orderly movements of the planets, reminiscent of Kepler's view in Harmonice Mundi. According to George Buelow, "No other writer of the period regarded music so unequivocally as the end result of God’s work". Yet in spite of his focus on counterpoint, Werckmeister's work emphasized underlying harmonic principles.

• Musicae mathematicae hodegus curiosus... (1687) • Musikalische Temperatur, oder... (1691) • Der Edlen Music-Kunst... (1691) • Hypomnemata musica (1697) • Erweierte und verbesserte Orgel-Probe (1698) • Die nothwendigsten Anmerckungen und Reglen, wie der Bassus continuus... (1698) • Cribrum musicum (1700) • Harmonologia musica (1702) • Musikalische Paradoxal-Discourse (1707)

Andreas Werckmeister is recorded as composer, musicologist, music theorist and organist.