Composer: Ernst Wilhelm Wolf
Performer: Kölner Akademie, Beate Mordal, Elvira Bill, Georg Poplutz, Matthias Vieweg, Andrey Akhmetov
Conductor: Michael Alexander Willens
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: CPO
Catalogue: 555524-2
Release: 2022
Size: 820 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Willkommen, du sehnlich erbetener Tag
01. I. Willkommen, du sehnlich erbetener Tag
02. II. Annehmlichste Verkündigung
03. III. Vergebens droht der Fürst der Höllen
04. IV. Ach, Hüter unseres Lebens!
Seid böse, ihr Völker
05. I. Seid böse, ihr Völker
06. II. Immanuel, mit uns ist Gott
07. III. Du, Held aus Jakobs edlem Samen
08. IV. Erregt durch Dank und Demut euren Geist
09. V. Er kann und will euch lassen nicht
Auf, jauchzet, ihr Christen
10. VI. Auf, jauchzet, ihr Christen
11. VII. O heil’ge Zeit
12. VIII. Wüte nur, du alte Schlange
13. IX. Heut schleußt er wieder auf die Tür
Willkommen, du schönster der Tage
14. I. Willkommen, du schönster der Tage
15. II. Umkränzt mit Sternen
16. III. Willkommen, du schönster der Tage
17. IV. Dir, Gottes ew’gen Sohn
18. V. So labt ein dürstend Land der milde Tau
19. VI. Erwache nun, Natur, und singe
20. VII. Zephyretten, lasst mit sanftem Wallen
21. VIII. Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ
22. IX. Dort in der Krippen liegt das Kind
23. X. Retter der sünd’gen Menschen
24. XI. Enthüllt ist das Geheimnis!
25. XII. Falle vom Himmel nieder
26. XIII. Erfüllt, ihr schönen Triebe der Lieb’ und Gegenliebe
In the 18th century, “well-stocked” church music was a natural tradition throughout central Germany: church services were embellished along the ecclesiastical year with cantatas appropriate to the liturgy for the glory of God, but also for the joy and “spiritual edification” of the visitors. From this treasure of hitherto unknown Christmas music, four cantatas by Ernst Wilhelm Wolf are presented for the first time on this recording. Wolf worked as court kapellmeister in Weimar, and the fact that Goethe rejected him as “self-indulgent” should not prevent us from admiring him as a very important composer of the transition. Musically, Wolf was greatly influenced by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in the empfindsamer Stil and by the works of the Berlin Kapellmeister Carl Heinrich Graun. He was also a prolific composer whose works were received with admiration by his contemporaries. The four cantatas show elements of the early classical and sensitive styles; the cantata choruses are often homophonic and songlike, polyphonic sections rather rare. All the cantatas prove to be individually conceived works that testify to the composer’s mastery. Beautiful sounding arias, the naturalness of their expression and the dramatic compression in the individual movements are still convincing today. At the same time, the cantatas bear witness to the high quality of Protestant church music in the period after Johann Sebastian Bach and illustrate the high value of music within the liturgy. Today they can be a welcome addition to the repertoire for the Christmas season.