Sepolcri were Central European Baroque pieces intended for performance at a Holy Week service centered on a representation of the Holy Sepulchre. There were Viennese examples in addition to the ones recorded here, written in Prague by the young Jan Dismas Zelenka. Some of the texts in the genre must have had a connection to the Passion story, but these do not; Deus dux fortissime, ZWV 60 (1716), is pure Christian militarism. From the evidence here, the genre is worth further investigation. Lying about halfway between the ...
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Sepolcri were Central European Baroque pieces intended for performance at a Holy Week service centered on a representation of the Holy Sepulchre. There were Viennese examples in addition to the ones recorded here, written in Prague by the young Jan Dismas Zelenka. Some of the texts in the genre must have had a connection to the Passion story, but these do not; Deus dux fortissime, ZWV 60 (1716), is pure Christian militarism. From the evidence here, the genre is worth further investigation. Lying about halfway between the short Italian oratorio of the late 17th century and the German cantata, it offers a contrast of impassioned arias addressing God with strict choral sections: not chorales in Catholic Prague but polyphonic pieces, most often an elaborate fugue at the end. All these pieces are world-premiere recordings, and buyers who have been eagerly snapping up each new Zelenka recording that appears will find this one worth their while as well. These works don't have the rampant experimentalism of...
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