Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern

Andreas Armsdorf (1670 – 1699) was a German composer and organist. He worked as organist in various churches in Erfurt: Reglerkirche, Andreaskirche, and Kaufmannskirche.
Possibly he studied with Johann Pachelbel, but that’s not certain. Armsdorf’s chorale prelude on “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” shows a striking similarity with Pachelbelk’s work on the same chorale. Both have the melody in the pedals, accompanied in rapid flowing figures in the hands. It’s very likely Armsdorf knew Pachelbel’s piece and modelled his own piece after it. But that’s not proof he studied with Pachebel. It was just common practice in those days to learn from others by copying their music and compose music following others pieces as a model. Pachelbel’s piece is perhaps the more refined of the two, but Armsdorf’s piece is the more joyous one.

Registration
HW: Principal 8′, Octav 4′
Ped: Octav 8′, Trompet 8′

Score available here: http://partitura.org/index.php/andreas-armsdorf-wie-schon-leuchtet-der-morgenstern/