Herzlich lieb hab' ich dich, o Herr

A nice Renaissance chorale variation on the hymn "Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr" by Bernhard Schmid 'der Ältere' (Bernhard Schmid the Elder), who lived and worked in Strassburg from 1535 until 1592.

Bernhard Schmid the Elder is the editor of a book of tablatures with a title that claims to encompass music for all types of keyboard instruments . This collection is considered one of the most important early German tablature publications after the works of Arnolt Schlick and Elias Nikolaus Ammerbach .

Schmid can be considered one of the finest colorists of his time. The pieces in his books, with their employed ornamentation, reflect the musical taste of the era and, in this respect, represent the starting point of German Baroque keyboard music.

This piece is an example of the 'Coloratura' of (hymn) melodies, typical from this era.
At first you hear the plain melody, simple and straight foreward, played on the Vox Humana, repeated by the ornamented version, played on Flutes 8/4/3 of the Rückpositiv.

Enjoy!

Marco