Joseph Martin Kraus' most famous work -- the one that was still heard once in awhile even though his name was wholly out of circulation -- is his Funeral Cantata for King Gustav III, written in the last year of Kraus' life to memorialize his fallen patron. It is not his only sacred work, however; although they are relatively small in number, Kraus' sacred choral works may be found in all parts of his career and include some pretty substantial pieces. CPO's Joseph Martin Kraus: Sacred Works contains three such works -- very ...
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Joseph Martin Kraus' most famous work -- the one that was still heard once in awhile even though his name was wholly out of circulation -- is his Funeral Cantata for King Gustav III, written in the last year of Kraus' life to memorialize his fallen patron. It is not his only sacred work, however; although they are relatively small in number, Kraus' sacred choral works may be found in all parts of his career and include some pretty substantial pieces. CPO's Joseph Martin Kraus: Sacred Works contains three such works -- very early settings of the Miserere (1773), a Requiem Mass (1775), and a middle period motet based on a Marian antiphon, Stella coeli (1783). These are performed by a group of soloists and the Deutscher Kammerchor with La Stagione Frankfurt under the direction of Michael Schneider. Although there is some curiosity about the date of the Requiem, the two earlier pieces date from Kraus' years as a university student studying law, not music. The motet came about in the South German town of...
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