David Petersen

about

Dutch composer and violinist of German extraction(b Lübeck, c1650; d before 5 May 1737). He went to Lund (Sweden) with Gregor Zuber (fl 1633–73), possibly his tutor and almost certainly his mentor; both were employed as university musicians there during the early 1670s. From shortly before 1680 onwards Petersen was in Amsterdam; it is not clear whether he worked as a professional musician. Considering his Speelstukken of 1683 (a set of violin sonatas modelled after J.J. Walther’s Scherzi of 1676) and a possible connection between Walther and Amsterdam (as expressed in Walther’s Hortulus chelicus), it is possible that Walther taught Petersen. Petersen dedicated the Speelstukken to an Amsterdam burgomaster and subsequently received a few small city appointments, which he held until his death. He died somewhere outside Amsterdam. The Speelstukken are by far his most important compositions; they are in a virtuoso style with many polyphonic passages, rapid scales and other figures, and the use of high positions. He also wrote numerous continuo songs to Dutch poems mostly by Abraham Alewijn, a close friend. Alewijn dedicated his play Amarillis (1693) to Petersen with the suggestion that he set it to music, but the extent to which Petersen fulfilled this wish is not known; some of his songs are on texts derived from the play. Petersen belongs to the generation of Dutch composers that includes Johannes Schenk, Carolus Hacquart, Servaas de Konink and Hendrik Anders, all of whom were

top songs

albums

David Petersen: Speelstukken, Amsterdam 1683

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The Golden Dream - 17th Century Music from the Low Countries

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Speelstukken Amsterdam 1683

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Speelstukken Amsterdam 1683 [Kraemer]

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Petersen - Speelstukken (Amsterdam 1683)

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Speelstukken (1683)

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Speelstukken

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Petersen: Speelstukken (Stylus Phantasticus in the Low Countries)

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The Golden Dream: 17th Century Music from the Low Countries

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Petersen: Speelstukken Amsterdam 1683

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Muziek in de Nederlanden van 1700 - 1800

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Speelstukken (B'Rock Orchestra)

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