Graupner Orchestral

The study of counterpoint had a lasting influence on Graupner. Just like Heinichen he developed a special interest in the canon. In 1730 he started to write 5625 canons on the same subject. And in 1736 he copied Kuhnau's treatise Von dem doppelten Contrapunct, which was circulating only in manuscript. This is most remarkable, as at that time the aesthetic of the Enlightenment quickly won ground. Its main theorist was Johann Mattheson, who, in 1723 in his journal Critica Musica, specifically wrote that the foundation of music is not the canon but melody and that the ability to write a melody owes little or nothing to the artifice of the canon.

Christoph Graupner gehört sicher nicht zu den allgemein geläufigen Komponisten des Barock. 1683 im sächsischen Kirchberg geboren, trat Graupner erstmals in Hamburg als Komponist in Erscheinung. Dort entstanden einige Opern, zum Teil in Zusammenarbeit mit Reinhard Keiser, zum Teil als eigene Werke. 1709 erfolgte der Ruf an den Hof Ernst Ludwigs, Landgraf von Hessen-Darmstadt, an dem Graupner bis zu seinem Tod im Jahre 1760 blieb.

This recording impressively proves that Graupner isn't just a 'minor master' of the 18th century in Germany, and more than 'a contemporary of Bach and Telemann'. He was a very distinguished composer whose works considerably add to the picture of musical styles and compositional developments in Germany in the period from about 1725 to 1760. The playing of Nova Stravaganza is outstanding, and does full justice to the brilliance of these scores. The solo parts are all superbly played, and the ensemble playing is impeccable. This release shows a great zest on the part of everyone involved. It must have been a great privilege to play this fine music for the first time ever. One can just hope that more will follow, and that others may be encouraged to perform more of Graupner's output which is awaiting to be rediscovered in the archives in Darmstadt.

Christoph Graupner (1683-1760), a German contemporary of J.S. Bach, was renowned in his day but utterly obscure now. But this Darmstadt court composer was immensely prolific: if you are impressed by Bach’s catalogue of about 200 surviving church cantatas, take a look at Graupner’s output of some 2,000 works in virtually every form. A significant part of his orchestral output consists of concertos and suites with diverse, sometimes very curious instruments in the solo ensembles. In this recording the Finnish Baroque Orchestra plays his suites for the flûte d’amour, a flute pitched a third lower than the normal transverse flute, and the viola d’amore, an instrument roughly the same size and shape as a viola but with resonating free strings. (WQXR)