The great oratorios and Passion settings of the High Baroque are effective in part because they successfully combine various forms of musical discourse; they draw on opera, on chorales and other forms of devotional music, on pastoral themes (where would Messiah be without those?), on political and military ideas, and more. In order for Bach and Handel to accomplish what they did, someone had to carve out a space in the sacred music sphere for them. Hamburg composer Reinhard Keiser, best known (when he is known at all) for ...
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The great oratorios and Passion settings of the High Baroque are effective in part because they successfully combine various forms of musical discourse; they draw on opera, on chorales and other forms of devotional music, on pastoral themes (where would Messiah be without those?), on political and military ideas, and more. In order for Bach and Handel to accomplish what they did, someone had to carve out a space in the sacred music sphere for them. Hamburg composer Reinhard Keiser, best known (when he is known at all) for his operas, was one of these figures, and this release from the specialist German label CPO, which has embarked on an intriguing project covering two centuries of church music from the Hanseatic city, does a top-notch job of illuminating the ways he did it and the circumstances under which he did it. The booklet notes (in English and German) by conductor Thomas Ihlenfeldt concisely and entertainingly explain the factors in play: arrayed against the musically conservative clergy of the...
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