Melchior Franck was one of the most prolific and widely respected German composers of the late Renaissance. Although he did not compose Baroque music, his work is regarded as transitional from the Renaissance to the Baroque, as Franck did make somewhat limited use of basso continuo. Although born around 1579, his is not the heritage of Monteverdi, but of Hassler, Lassus, and the Gabrielis. Franck has not been at the top of the priority list for editors of such music; owing partly to the bulk of his output; in sacred motets ...
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Melchior Franck was one of the most prolific and widely respected German composers of the late Renaissance. Although he did not compose Baroque music, his work is regarded as transitional from the Renaissance to the Baroque, as Franck did make somewhat limited use of basso continuo. Although born around 1579, his is not the heritage of Monteverdi, but of Hassler, Lassus, and the Gabrielis. Franck has not been at the top of the priority list for editors of such music; owing partly to the bulk of his output; in sacred motets alone, some 560 works by Franck have survived. However, this is also due to Franck's perceived conservatism; a protestant composer, he sought to achieve a happy medium between the longstanding tradition of Latin service music and the reduced requirements of protestant congregational singing. Weser-Renaissance Bremen does not have a critical edition of Franck's Threnodae Davidicae (1615) from which to prepare a performance, so this CPO recording was edited directly from the early...
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