German Baroque Cantatas

Director of music to the Darmstadt court, Graupner's output almost equalled that of Telemann and certainly surpassed that of J.S. Bach: he composed a number of operas, many concertos and orchestral suites, chamber music, keyboard works and more than 1400 church cantatas. Almost the entire body of Graupner’s work has survived in autograph but hardly any of his compositions were published during his lifetime or afterwards. Fortunately they were not burnt after his death as he himself wished, but were the subject of a legal dispute between the landgrave and Graupner’s heirs. Thanks to this the complete archive was taken to a place outside the city and thus spared a second burning, as very little of the old city of Darmstadt would be spared during the Second World War.

Carl Heinrich Graun, like other Italian-influenced or Italian-trained German composers of his time, composed Italian cantatas throughout his entire creative period. The three cantatas belong to a small group in Grauns output, for soprano. The greater part of his 38 positively attributed Italian cantatas were composed for tenor, and thus probably for his own voice. Graun's soprano cantatas were probably written in his Berlin years after Friedrich's accession to the throne in 1740, when virtuoso castrati and singers were available for the demanding solo parts. After successful albums with music by Fasch, Hertel and Molter, the ensemble Main-Barockorchester has now joined the Accent label. Hannah Morrison is regarded as one of the most promising young sopranos of the early music scene.

Although Bach's sacred cantatas span a huge expressive range and display a striking stylistic diversity, they were all composed for performance during a church service. In the case of the secular cantatas, on the other hand, their respective purpose is as varied as their subject matter and emotional content. They were usually commissions intended for occasions such as weddings, funerals and birthdays. As such they were sometimes performed in churches, and some of them have religious texts, but as the works gathered here exemplify, they were not related to the particular theme of the church service on a certain day.

Johann Philipp Förtsch is one of the most remarkable German composers of the 17th century. About halfway through his life his career as a professional musician came to an end and he started to devote his life to the medical profession. Also notable is that his sacred compositions are more dramatic in character than was common in his time.
Förtsch was born in Wertheim am Main where his father was mayor. He studied medicine, law and philosophy in Jena and then in Erfurt. He did not plan to become a professional musician but must have enjoyed a good musical education.

VIVARTE is the legendary Sony Classical period music label known for producing outstanding recordings on period instruments. The recordings by legendary producer Wolf Erichson are done with the best recording technologies and by one of the best production teams in the world (Tritonus Music Production, Stuttgart). The label started producing when Sony Classical was founded (in 1989). The production came to a standstill recently when Wolf Erichson retired and DHM became the new label of period music within Sony Classical. Among the outstanding artists which recorded for Vivarte are: Anner Bylsma, Gustav Leonhardt, Jos Van Immerseel, Tafelmusik, Huelgas Ensemble and others.

The Augustinus Muziekcentrum in Antwerp is a deconsecrated church repurposed for concerts, especially in the field of early music. The venue may work well for some pieces, but it's bothersome in this program of comic vocal and instrumental music by Telemann, where it's completely inappropriate. The two comic cantatas here presuppose an intimate environment of connoisseurs, but the voice of soprano soloist Dorothee Mields gets lots in the church's vast spaces to such an extent that text intelligibility is a problem, even with the aid of printed texts in German, Dutch, French, and English./quote]

When he died, Nicolaus Bruhns was just 31 years old, and only twelve of his vocal works and five organ compositions have survived. On the strength of these, he is nevertheless considered one of the most prominent North German composers of the generation between Buxtehude and Bach. Buxtehude was in fact Bruhns teacher, and thought so highly of him that recommended him for a position in Copenhagen. There he worked as a violin virtuoso and composer until 1689, when he returned to Northern Germany to become organist in the main church of Husum. It was here that most if not all of the extant works were performed.

Since her early success in Glyndebourne’s now famous production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Danielle de Niese has become most closely associated with the music of the Baroque. The New York Times commented: “A voice seductive enough to woo gods as well as mortals”.

Setting various German and Latin texts for solo voices, violins and continuo, these sacred cantatas are typical products of the late 17th century in their pragmatic approach to form.
Here are patchworks such as Jesu dulcis memoria and Salve, Jesu, Patris gnate unigenite; chorale or song variations such as Jesu, meine Freude; and others, like Ich halte es dafür and Ich habe Lustabzuscheiden, which combine the two. CantateDomino is liltingly Italianate, Mein Herz ist bereit is an agile showpiece for solo bass, while Herr, wennich nur dich hab is a set of variations over a ground bass. The Purcell Quartet's essential string sound has always been sweet, airy and lucid, and it's interesting to hear how that has been transferred here from the instrumental sphere to the vocal.