Armarium - From the music cabinet of the
Thomaner
plainchant
Gaude felix India, Sequentia de S. Thoma [6:09]
Sethus CALVISIUS (1556-1615)
Deus sator mortalium, Hymnus ante cibum [2:31]
Pandolfo ZALLAMELLA (1551-c1591)
Ingrediente Domino [1:51]
Sethus CALVISIUS
Inventor rutili, Hymnus vespertinus [2:34]
Orlandus LASSUS (1532-1594)
Confitemini Domino [3:36]
Sethus CALVISIUS
Te lucis ante terminum, Hymnus vespertinus [2:00]
Johann WALTER (1496-1570)
Mitten wir im Leben sind [3:12]
Johann Hermann SCHEIN (1586-1630)
Von dem Leiden und Sterben Jesu Christi. Die sieben Wort 'Da Jesus
an dem Kreuze stund' [7:10]
Giovanni Battista STEFFANINI (1574-1630)
Christus resurgens [1:54]
Sethus CALVISIUS
Ades Pater supreme, Hymnus vespertinus [1:46]
Heinrich SCHÜTZ (1585-1672)
Viel werden kommen (SWV 375) [2:42]
Sethus CALVISIUS
O Pater coelestis, Oratio Dominica [2:56]
Thomas STOLTZER (c1475-1526)
Magnificat 6. toni [9:42]
Sixt DIETRICH (1492/94-1548)
Heilig ist Gott der Vater [3:37]
plainchant
Spe mercedis et coronae, Sequentia de S. Thoma Canthuariensi [5:29]
amarcord (Wolfram Lattke, Martin Lattke, Robert Pohlers (tenor), Franz Ozimek
(baritone), Daniel Knauft, Holger Krause (bass))
rec. May 2013, June 2014, Kirche St. Nicolai, Polditz-Altleisnig, Germany.
DDD
Texts and translations included
RAUMKLANG RKAP10114 [57:17]
Since the rediscovery of his St Matthew Passion
the person and oeuvre of Johann Sebastian Bach have become the focus of attention
for many generations of musicologists and performing musicians. It was only
with the emergence of a more general interest in 'early music'
that his predecessors in the office of Thomaskantor have been investigated.
However, although music by the likes of Sebastian Knüpfer, Thomas Selle and
Johann Kuhnau is available on disc it would be exaggerated to say that their
oeuvre is well-known; it is certainly not fully explored as yet. Johann Hermann
Schein is probably the earliest of the Thomaskantors who appears
now and then on disc and in concert programmes.
The present disc goes further back in time; the central figure is Sethus Calvisius,
who was Thomaskantor from 1594 to 1615. This was an interesting time
and experienced much change in the musical style across Europe. However, in
the music written for ecclesiastical use in Lutheran Germany little of this
change was in evidence. It is telling that one of the collections from which
music on this disc is taken, the Florilegii Musici Portensis, printed
in Leipzig in 1621, was reprinted in large numbers and that Bach purchased
several copies as late as 1729. Such collections included music for the regular
services on Sundays and feastdays, mainly motets, sometimes completely original
but also often arrangements or harmonizations of hymns. The form of the motet
had become obsolete towards the end of the 17th century as it was completely
overshadowed by the cantata, a result of the growing influence of the Italian
style, and in the 18th century increasingly modelled after Italian opera.
It was only the generation after Bach who turned towards the form of the motet
again. Examples include Gottfried August Homilius, Johann Friedrich Doles
and Johann Adam Hiller.
This disc includes music which in some way or another can be connected to
the Thomasschule and Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Calvisius himself was active
in putting together collections of music which could be used in church and
in schools. He started his activities in this department as Kantor
of the Fürstenschule in Schulpforta. He laid the foundation for a collection
which his successor in Schulpforta, Erhard Bodenschatz, published under the
title Florilegium selectissimum hymnorum. It was reprinted and in
use until the late 18th century. It comprises hymns for daily use in school,
either for the liturgy (matin hymns or vespertinus) and for prayers
before meals (ante cibum). This disc includes several such pieces.
The importance of their inclusion cannot be overestimated. This kind of repertoire
belongs to the very heart of liturgical practice in German Lutheranism from
the late 16th century to the 18th century. Since it is relatively simple -
always in four parts and strictly homophonic - it is seldom performed and
recorded. This disc shows that it can still appeal to the listener of today,
especially if it is sung as well as here.
The other collection which I have already mentioned was also published by
Bodenschatz, but it is likely that its originator was again Calvisius. It
includes motets for worship during the ecclesiastical year. Christus resurgens
by Giovanni Battista Stefanini is a motet for Easter. A comparable collection,
also published by Bodenschatz, is the Florilegium selectissimum cantionum
of 1603. It includes Ingrediente Domino by Pandolfo Zallamella, which
is for Palm Sunday: "As the Lord entered the Holy City, the children
of the Hebrews proclaimed the resurrection of life, and, waving palm branches,
they loudly praised the Lord: Hosanna in the highest". Johann Hermann
Schein was Thomaskantor from 1616 to 1630. In 1627 he published harmonizations
of congregational hymns under the title Cantional, oder Gesangbuch Augspurgischer
Confession. Von dem Leiden und Sterben Jesu Christi is a poetical
narrative of Jesus' words from the Cross, on the melody of Da Jesus
an dem Kreuze stund. This again is an example of music which is seldom
performed. Schein is best-known for his collection of sacred madrigals, Israelsbrünnlein.
Although some stylistic development is evident the continuity in the composition
of music for daily use in church is far more striking. The same goes for the
motets which Heinrich Schütz published in 1648 under the title of Geistliche
Chor-Music. It is dominated by counterpoint which he considered "the
true essence and the proper foundation" of any music. Schütz had no ties
to Leipzig - his friend Schein had died in 1630 - but he dedicated this collection
to the city council of Leipzig and its "famous choir". From this
collection Viel werden kommen is taken.
The vocal ensemble amarcord is pre-eminently qualified to bring this repertoire
to our attention. They are former members of the Thomanerchor and have grown
up with the repertoire from which they offer here a small selection. The programme
starts and ends with pieces from the Thomas-Gradual. In 2012 they
devoted a complete disc to two masses from this source (review).
By including two sequences for St Thomas - the first referring to the apostle,
the second to St Thomas à Becket of Canterbury - they provide a link to their
previous disc. The historical gap between the Thomas-Gradual from
around 1300 and the music from the early 17th century is narrowed by the Magnificat
6. toni by Thomas Stoltzer and Heilig ist Gott der Vater by
Sixt Dietrich. These pieces are part of another important collection in the
armarium (musical cabinet) of the Thomasschule which was put together
by Wolfgang Figulus, Thomaskantor from 1549 to 1551. The singers
of amarcord also perfectly capture the style of the music they have selected.
I could imagine a more 'baroque' interpretation of Viel
werden kommen by Schütz, but the way it is sung here is certainly legitimate
and underlines the continuity rather than the change in German liturgical
music of the 17th century.
This is a most fascinating release: historically interesting and musically
captivating. I hope that amarcord will continue its exploration of the musical
heritage of the school where its members started their careers.
Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen
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