In the baroque era composers didn't score their music at random.
Instruments were often associated with specific Affekts
or certain events. The recorder was in general used in music of
a pastoral character, whereas the viola da gamba was associated
with music expressing sorrow and sadness. From ancient times the
trumpet was used for military and ceremonial purposes. These roles
are reflected in the music of the baroque era as this disc demonstrates.
The first piece is one of Bach's most famous and most popular cantatas.
It is also one of his most unusual and most brilliant. It is
a cantata in praise of God, which is the reason it contains
a virtuosic trumpet part. This refers to the ceremonial function
of the trumpet, which in the baroque era was especially used
in music in praise of God and in music for his representatives
on earth, kings and queens. There can be hardly any doubt that
the trumpet part was played by Gottfried Reiche, the virtuoso
trumpeter who had become senior Stadtmusicus in Leipzig
in 1719. For him Bach has written several trumpet parts in his
cantatas which are testimony to his great skills. It is much
more difficult to say with any certainty who performed the equally
demanding soprano part. Bach always used trebles in his church
cantatas, but it is also possible that he now and then made
use of adult male sopranos, singing with their natural voice.
Whoever may have sung it, he must have been a virtuosic singer
with a large range. Ruth Ziesak gives an excellent performance,
and Reinhold Friedrich is a perfect match.
Bach's cantata is strongly influenced by the Italian style, and so
are the two sacred concertos by Rosenmüller. Like Bach he mixed
this 'new' style with the German polyphonic tradition. In the
first piece the trumpet's military function comes to the fore
as the title indicates: 'Ad pugnas, ad bella' (To battle, to
war). But here it is about the spiritual war of the Christian
who has to fight - against sin, against all the temptations
of the world - to reach the heavenly paradise. This paradise
is what the second concerto by Rosenmüller is about, and as
it deals with heaven, the residence of God, the use of a trumpet
is appropriate. In these pieces soprano and trumpet are involved
in a dialogue of an often virtuosic nature. In 'Ad pugnas, ad
bella' the soprano part contains fanfare-like motifs and the
trumpet regularly imitates the soprano part.
The last piece on this disc is the setting of Psalm 113 by Zelenka.
Like the cantata by Bach it is in praise of God, and that again
explains the use of a trumpet. It is in three sections: in the
first and the last (a setting of the closing word 'Amen') soprano
and trumpet are competing with each other like in an instrumental
concerto. The second section is a setting of those verses in
this Psalm which refer to God's caring for the poor and the
weak. It is suitable that they are set as an andante in which
the soprano sings in a declamatory manner over quietly moving
The vocal items are interspersed by two instrumental pieces. Krieger's
sonata is scored for violin, viola da gamba and bc - the most
common scoring in German 17th century instrumental music. The
viola da gamba part is technically demanding, and it is suggested
that it was written for Konrad Höffler, who was a brilliant
gambist. Krieger and Höffler knew each other well: both were
pupils of Gabriel Schütz in Nuremberg and both worked for some
time at the court in Bayreuth and since 1680 at the court of
Weißenfels. The sonata is part of a collection of 12 which dates
The other piece was written by Gottfried Finger, a composer of Moravian
origin who went to London where the first traces of his presence
date from 1687. He became part of James II's Catholic chapel,
but when the King went into exile he continued his career as
freelance musician and composer. Like Höffler he was a skilled
gambist, but also wrote music for other instruments, like this
trio sonata for trumpet, violin and bc. It consists of a sequence
of short movements in contrasting tempi, and shows the influence
of his compatriot Vejvanovský (d. 1693), which explains its
rather old-fashioned style.
This disc presents a programme which has been intelligently put together.
The vocal items are connected through the use of the trumpet
in combination with a solo soprano, and contain a mixture of
well-known and hardly known pieces. Despite the distance in
time between, for instance, Rosenmüller and Bach, there is some
stylistic connection, since all composers mixed Italian elements
with the traditional German style.
The performances are of a consistently high level. The use of a natural
trumpet guarantees a good balance with the soprano and with
the violin in Finger's sonata. With a modern trumpet this would
have been much harder. Reinhold Friedrich is a brilliant player,
and there are no problems in regard to intonation. But, although
the booklet doesn't mention it, one may assume this is partly
due to modern adaptations of the natural trumpet. These are
quite common these days in order to improve the intonation.
This may be understandable but it is disappointing that the
natural trumpet can hardly be heard in its real state. Ruth
Ziesak is a seasoned interpreter of German music of the 17th
and 18th centuries, and her treatment of the text leaves nothing
to be desired.
The Latin texts in the Rosenmüller and Zelenka are pronounced in the
German way, which is historically correct. Therefore the modernisation
of some elements in the text of Bach's cantata is very surprising.
Why a word like "itzt" is replaced by "jetzt"
and "vor' by "für" is beyond me. It is a little
blot on an otherwise exemplary production.
Johan van Veen