Valentin Dretzel

Valentin Dretzel was one of the most prominent musicians in Nuremberg in the first half of the seventeenth century, a free imperial city in which the office of organist held a prominent place in musical and ceremonial life. Born there towards the end of the sixteenth century, his career unfolded almost entirely in the city, and his name is associated both with organ playing and with an instrumental and vocal output of interest for understanding the stylistic transition of the period.

From 1599 he appears as a musician at the Frauenkirche, where he had the opportunity to associate with composers, amateurs and patrons in the city. There he worked as an instrumentalist and, from 1604, he also received payment as organist. Around 1616 he replaced Caspar Hassler at the Spitalkirche, when Hassler moved to St Sebald's following the dismissal of his brother-in-law Hans Christoph Haiden. After Hassler's death in 1618, he took over the organ of St Lawrence's from Johann Staden, and in 1634, on Staden's death, he moved to St Sebald's, the most senior post to which an organist in Nuremberg could aspire, which he held until his death in 1658. The purchase of two houses in the following years suggests a comfortable financial situation.

His standing as an organ expert earned him the trust of the city council, which often consulted him on instrument tests. That same reputation brought him into conflict in 1607 with Caspar Hassler, with whom he quarrelled over wedding fees, despite the mediation efforts of Hans Leo Hassler. Initial tensions with Staden were resolved after a stern municipal warning, and the friendship that followed later found expression in joint publications. This relationship extended to Sigmund Theophil Staden, who dedicated an edition of H. L. Hassler's Kirchengesäng to him, and Dretzel sent his younger son to receive instruction from him.

He is regarded as a virtuoso of the organ. His performance of the celebrated Geigenwerk by Hans Haiden during the Nuremberg Peace Banquet in 1649 was greatly admired. His principal work, Sertulum musicale (1620), dedicated largely to Georg Volckamer, includes motets for three voices at the end, as a nod towards the new style, alongside ricercares and canzonas that reveal his instrumental mastery. Between 1625 and 1630 he offered Volckamer annual congratulations, first in German and later with Latin arias with basso continuo, which shows his command of the monodic style. In 1630, with the Thirty Years' War showing no sign of ending, he composed a peace plea in the form of a dialogue and a three-voice fugue on the chorale Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort.