ABSTRACT
The tendency towards a rationalized form of the idiomatic harpsichord writing initiated by the English virginalists and visible in the works just discussed is brought to a logical conclusion. Almost every varied section is based on a single figurative idea, which is fully exploited without becoming mechanical. The pieces closest to Betrubet ist zu dieser Frist in Heinrich Scheidemann's oeuvre are two dance variations copied out anonymously in close conjunction in WM: the Englische mascarata and the Pavana lachrymae. No department of Scheidemann keyboard music seems as exclusively attached to a specific period as the short dances for harpsichord, WV 109—30, which all stem from sources originating around the last decade of his life. Given the unambiguous source situation and the entirely new stylistic avenue taken here, it is likely that this repertoire originated after 1650 and was written with the same objective as when it was copied out in Luneburg and Celle.
