For music on either side of the year 1700, recording catalogs and history books have focused on Italy and on the North German traditions that led to J.S. Bach. But the various establishments maintained in Germany by the so-called Electors of the Holy Roman Empire had their own musical traditions. The court of the Elector Palatine at Düsseldorf was among the most sumptuous, and apparently Bach himself, who copied out the gorgeous Mass in G minor of Johann Hugo von Wilderer that opens the disc (there are only a Kyrie and ...
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For music on either side of the year 1700, recording catalogs and history books have focused on Italy and on the North German traditions that led to J.S. Bach. But the various establishments maintained in Germany by the so-called Electors of the Holy Roman Empire had their own musical traditions. The court of the Elector Palatine at Düsseldorf was among the most sumptuous, and apparently Bach himself, who copied out the gorgeous Mass in G minor of Johann Hugo von Wilderer that opens the disc (there are only a Kyrie and Gloria, or at least that's all Bach needed), kept tabs on the music there. The Jan Wellem named on the cover was the Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz-Neuburg himself; Jan Wellem was the Low German version of the name (which may or may not be apparent to listeners outside the German sphere; it is not explained anywhere). The two composers represented were Wilderer, an organist who became the court kapellmeister, and Carlo Pietro Grua, a singer/composer. Works by the two composers...
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