Faà di Bruno, Giovanni Matteo [Horatio, Orazio] 83

Fretwork.

British viol consort. It was formed in 1985, and after six months' intense study, funded by the Arts Council, made its début at the Wigmore Hall in 1986. By the 1990s it was recognized as the leading viol consort in the world. Its members in 1999 were Richard Campbell, Wendy Gillespie, Julia Hodgson, Susanna Pell, Richard Boothby and William Hunt, with the frequent participation of singers such as Michael Chance, James Bowman and Catherine Bott, the vocal ensemble Red Byrd, the organist Paul Nicolson and the lutenist Christopher Wilson. Fretwork has toured extensively throughout Europe, the USA, East Asia and Australia, performing principally the English consort repertory, but also Renaissance and contemporary works. It has commissioned (and recorded) new compositions for viols by a wide range of composers, including George Benjamin (Upon Silence), Elvis Costello (Put away forbidden playthings), Tan Dun (A Sinking Love), Thea Musgrave (Wild Winter), Michael Nyman (Self-Laudatory Hymn) and Peter Sculthorpe (Djlile). However, Fretwork is best known for its CDs of the English repertory from Byrd to Purcell. Its performances are characterized by rich and passionate yet clean playing, with a strongly supportive bass; its excellent treble viols always maintain a sweet tone (in the tradition of Francis and June Baines). Fretwork has also published viol music and David Pinto's book William Lawes.

LUCY ROBINSON

Freund [Freundt].

German family of organ builders. The oldest surviving instrument ascribed to an organ builder named Freund is the organ at Ardagger, Lower Austria, with an inscription (dated 1770) which states that the organ was built in 1620 by a ‘Passauischen orgelmacher Frynd’. A ‘Johann Georg Freund’, often mentioned in organ-building literature, was formerly thought to be the foremost member of the family, but there is no archival evidence to support this. The first traceable member of the family is Johann Freund (d Passau, 3 Dec 1678). He is possibly identical with ‘Johannes Frondt’ who worked in 1629 in Innsbruck with Leopold Rottenburger of Salzburg; he also worked together with Andreas Butz in Schlägl (1635; see Butz). Johann Freund built one of the most important organs of the 17th century for Klosterneuburg Abbey, near Vienna (1636–42; restored 1983–90 by the firm of Theodor Kuhn). The overall impression of the plenum is characterized by a comprehensive chorus with a Mixtur XII–XIV (4') in the Hauptwerk; the specification also includes six reeds, of which the Regal 8' in the Brustwerk is original (see Organ, §V, 12, Table 25). Freund also built organs for the St Afra chapel, Klosterneuburg (1649); the parish church, Linz (1650); St Bartholomäus, Passau-Ilzstadt (1655); St Leonhard, Aigen am Inn (1658); and Baumgartenberg Abbey (1662).

Johann was succeeded by his son Leopold (d Passau, 19 April 1722), who built organs for the Benedictine abbey at Kremsmünster (1680–82); the Benedictine abbey at Seitenstetten (1685–7); Passau Cathedral (1685–8); Korneuburg (1691); Freistadt (1705); and the pilgrimage church of Maria Brunnenthal (1711). The workshop was gradually taken over by his son-in-law Johann Ignaz Egedacher (see Egedacher). Franz Freund (d before 1696), also a son of Johann, was an organ builder in Rottenburg am Neckar, where he married in 1668 and obtained the freedom in 1670. He built an organ for the collegiate church at Wiesensteig (1680) and worked at Temple Neuf, Strasbourg (1683–4; repairs and rebuilding) and the Cistercian abbey at Schöntal an der Jagst (1690; new Posaune).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

J. Saam: ‘Die alten Passauer Orgelbauer’, Ostbairische Grenzmarken, xix (1977), 108–37

R.G. Frieberger: Der Orgelbau in Oberösterreich im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert (Innsbruck, 1984)

R. Walter: ‘Der Passauer Domorgelbau von L. Freundt und G. Muffats Passauer Wirken’, Ostbairische Grenzmarken, xxvii (1985), 104–28

F. Jakob: Die Fest-Orgel in der Stiftskirche Klosterneuburg (Vienna, 1990)

ALFRED REICHLING

Freundt [Bonamicus], Cornelius

(b Plauen, c1535; d Zwickau, bur. 26 Aug 1591). German composer. He is first heard of in 1554 as the dedicatee of a Zwickau music manuscript. By 1564 he was Kantor at Borna. On 1 November 1565 he became Kantor of St Marien, Zwickau, and a teacher at the town school, in succession to David Köler (to whose memory he dedicated a composition). There he led a busy and fruitful life and was held in high esteem, not only for his abilities as a musician in the service of the town and church: he also produced school plays, built the town a sundial and in 1588 was invited to become a preacher, an offer that he declined. His music, which consists overwhelmingly of sacred works, including Christmas and wedding songs, probably all originated in his work at Zwickau; he wrote surprisingly little for the Lutheran Mass. A few of his Christmas songs found their way into the Dresden, Brunswick and Gotha songbooks, some remaining in use until the 18th century. They are attractive pieces, some in a simple homophonic style, others more sophisticated and motet-like; historically they represent a transition from the older Tenorlied to the newer chorale.

WORKS

Epithalamion in honorem venerandi … D. Friderici Petrei, 5vv (Mühlhausen, 1568)

Weihnachtslieder, D-Z; ed. G. Göhler, Das Weihnachtsliederbuch des Zwickauer Kantors Cornelius Freundt (Leipzig, 1897/R); ed. K. Ameln, Weihnachtsliederbuch von Cornelius Freundt (Kassel, 1934/R)

For other works, incl. mass, Magnificat, Latin motets, wedding songs, see MGG1

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MGG1 (W. Brennecke)

R. Vollhardt: ‘Bibliographie der Musikwerke der Ratsschulbibliothek zu Zwickau’, MMg, xxv–xxviii (1893–6), suppls.

G. Göhler: Cornelius Freundt: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der evangelischen Kirchenmusik, insbesondere der sächsischen Kantoreien in der 2. Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1896/R)

W. Brennecke: ‘Zwei Beiträge zum mehrstimmigen Weihnachtslied des 16. Jahrhunderts’, i: ‘“Psallite – Singt und klingt”’, Mf, v (1952), 160–71, esp. 166; ii: ‘Das Weihnachtsliederbuch des Cornelius Freundt’, vi (1953), 313–19

W. Dehnhard: Die deutsche Psalmmotette in der Reformationszeit (Wiesbaden, 1971)

WILFRIED BRENNECKE