Toccata Classics' Telemann: Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst, Vol. 1, promises to be the opening salvo in a most ambitious project, provided Toccata stays in business this long -- a complete recording of Georg Philipp Telemann's 1725 publication Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst (The Harmonious Service to God). This is a collection of 72 solo cantatas laid out for every Sunday and holiday of the Lutheran church year, composed to fit a text based on a Bible verse appropriate to each occasion. This was the first complete cantata cycle of ...
Read More
Toccata Classics' Telemann: Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst, Vol. 1, promises to be the opening salvo in a most ambitious project, provided Toccata stays in business this long -- a complete recording of Georg Philipp Telemann's 1725 publication Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst (The Harmonious Service to God). This is a collection of 72 solo cantatas laid out for every Sunday and holiday of the Lutheran church year, composed to fit a text based on a Bible verse appropriate to each occasion. This was the first complete cantata cycle of at least three published by Telemann, and a couple of other nearly complete cycles exist in manuscript, along with literally hundreds of single sacred cantatas by him scattered in sources throughout Europe. The lean forces required by the Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst -- solo vocalist, a solo instrument or two, keyboard, and continuo -- was what made the edition both practical and popular. Telemann's music was tuneful and relatively easy to play, designed for the second cantata in a...
Read Less
