Here is an excerpt from the performances, and my notes from the program book.
ARTEK - Johann Rosenmüller excerpt
In the spring of 2010, our countertenor Ryland Angel came to
me and said, “We need to perform and record these great alto cantatas by
Rosenmüller!” Of course, like most baroque musicians, I knew a few of his
instrumental pieces for strings, which are played fairly often. And I knew other
early German cantatas by contemporaries of Rosenmüller. But ARTEK’s main focus
for performing and recording has always been the works of Monteverdi.
After listening to a few recordings of alto cantatas,
Rosenmüller’s music had totally fired my interest, and I decided to go forward
with the project – enlarging it to include not only alto cantatas but also soprano
cantatas for our mezzo-soprano, Barbara Hollinshead. Thanks to Ellis Hilton of Drew University
It was a natural outgrowth of my interest in the solo
cantatas to further investigate the music of Rosenmüller, which seemed to speak
to me in a personal way much like the music of mid-17th-century organ composer
Heinrich Scheidemann also appeals to my heart. That led me to Yale University
Johann Rosenmüller, born about 1619, graduated from the University of Leipzig
in theology in 1640, and by 1642 was working at St. Thomas Church Leipzig
the greater part of their lifetimes.
All was derailed when in 1655 Rosenmüller was accused of
homosexual activities, as were several of the schoolboys. He was imprisoned,
but managed to escape. Eventually he made his way to Venice . Some authors have speculated that the
charges may have been caused by political jealousy – what better way to remove
a rival for the position of Kantor? – but others have pointed out that Venice , in the 17th century,
was a city where by and large the authorities were very tolerant of many kinds
of lifestyles that were anathema to pious Lutheran Germany. The answer will never
be known. What is certain, however, is that Rosenmüller had to start all over as
a musician, beginning as a trombonist in the employ of St. Mark’s Cathedral, not
becoming established as a composer until 1660. Moreover, in modern times, he
remains far less known and studied as a composer, likely as a consequence of
the stain on his personal reputation.
Rosenmüller stayed in Venice
until approximately 1682, when he returned to Wolfenbüttel , Germany Venice , as do some of the smaller cantatas
not printed in the Kern-Sprüche collections. Most of Rosenmüller’s manuscripts
are of German provenance, either from the time when he returned to Germany , or from other musicians who visited or
studied with him in Venice
and brought back his music. Though his life was greatly affected by the scandal
of his young years, Rosenmüller nevertheless does seem to have been greatly
admired in Germany
by the end of his life.
Friday’s concert of music for smaller forces includes music
from the Kern-Sprüche (1648)/Andere Kern-Sprüche (1652-3) collections and
Rosenmüller’s published set of instrumental sonatas in 2, 3, 4 and 5 parts
(published in Nüremberg in 1682) and cantatas found only in manuscript versions.
Rosenmüller’s solo cantatas take the early German solo cantata as developed by
Schütz (who was himself greatly influenced by his sojourn in Venice with Gabrieli in the early part of his
life) into the mid-17th-century style typical of Italian composers such as
Carissimi, with a clearer distinction between recitative and arioso/aria. The
program includes cantatas written in both German and Latin; since the
Kern-Sprüche collections published before Rosenmüller left for Venice
include both German and Latin language cantatas, one cannot conclude, for
example, that Latin cantatas are from Venice ,
and German cantatas from Leipzig
or Wolfenbüttel.
Saturday’s concert includes a selection of music that one
might conjecture would be heard in festive liturgical services at a large
Venetian church – perhaps even St. Mark’s. The large cantatas are incredibly reminiscent
of Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers and 1640 Selva morale. They also reflect the fl
owing triple-time practice of Cavalli, Monteverdi’s direct successor at St.
Mark’s. I chose several of the largest cantatas, with 8-part voices and 5-part
string and 5-part wind choirs, in the polychoral style first popularized by
Gabrieli but also used by Monteverdi with great effect. Then I also chose
several 4-voice cantatas for contrast, where the beautiful interplay between strings
and voices is entirely engaging. In the place where a Venetian Vespers service would
have a small vocal concerto as a substitute for the antiphon, we are performing
several of Rosenmüller’s smaller cantatas for one or two voices.
Lastly I chose to include the interesting piece Jube Domne. This
is actually an invocation piece for Compline, but not having any Rosenmüller
setting of Deus in adjutorium, I felt that something was needed to begin our
concert and this piece fit that need admirably. Lastly, of the two large
Magnificats we have of Rosenmüller, the one we present in C minor was the most
interesting, with its extremely chromatic instrumental ritornello recurring several
times.
We had many problems to solve for this performance: first
and foremost, obtaining scores (some I transcribed, some were specially
transcribed for us by Brian Clark, and some were available in the limited
amount of Rosenmüller material in modern editions). Our second problem was pitch.
Knowing that German and Venetian pitch was generally very high, about A = 465
Hz, and having our Piffaro friends with their instruments available also only
at that pitch, it seemed logical that most pieces would be best at high pitch.
However, I have become convinced that the situation in either Germany or Venice
or possibly both was much more complex, with performers of the time likely
playing in multiple pitches at the same time. Our Friday night soloists and our
strings were happiest at A = 415, a whole tone down. Therefore our strings are
always playing at A=415, our winds always at A=463. In some cases, however, the
singers are singing at A=415, a few at A=390 (which was also known in Venice in certain
situations) and also a few at A=463. Our continuo players are likewise sometimes
at A=415 and other times at A=463. That is why you will see us switching instruments!
All this required a huge amount of part-making and transposition, making
adjustments through our week of rehearsals as necessary.
On the instrumentation of the cantatas, there is also some
directorial input. Jube Domne uses instruments in a “colla parte” manner,
doubling voices as was frequently done. All the other pieces have written out
instrumental parts, although we chose to split the parts & voices of Beatus
Vir between two choirs to present it as an antiphonal psalm setting in the
typical “St. Mark’s” style. Rosenmüller used fagotto or violone interchangeably
for his bass line, even as the bass for a 5-part string ensemble, and we
likewise do sometimes fagotto (dulcian) and sometimes violone, which means 8’
violone, not 16’. But we do also include 16’ violone and 16’ dulcian doubling
the bass for color in the largest pieces (we are fortunate to have the only
copy in the world of a 16’ dulcian available to us!) It is also typical in
music of this period to use sacbuts and dulcians interchangeably on tenor and
bass parts. Therefore, some cantatas have a perfectly plausible wind
accompaniment rather than string for the sake of variety.
As appropriate for music being performed to reflect Venetian
17th-century performance, the pronunciation of the Latin is adjusted for
Venetian dialect. What we now think of as sung Italianate church Latin is
typical of Florentine Italian pronunciation, which gradually became the common
Italian language in all of Italy .
In the 17th century, however, Venice
was its own Republic, with its own language. Venetian is thought to be a
Romance language from a branch that is not directly related to Florentine
Italian. So the use of Florentine rules in pronouncing church Latin for Venice is quite
anachronistic. Although much research needs to be done in this area of
performance practice, it is possible to make some conclusions about correct
pronunciation, which may sound different to audiences accustomed to solely German,
French or (Florentine) Italian.
All of these concerns pale besides the main task of
presenting Rosenmüller’s nearly forgotten masterpieces to a North American audience
– perhaps, in some cases, the first public hearing since the 17th century. The
music astounds us with its graceful melodic flow and exquisite harmonies. Surely
we are listening to music by one of the greatest of 17th-century composers.
I would like to especially thank those who have assisted in
the preparation of these concerts: Sara Ruhle Kyle and Susan Hellauer, our
lecturers; Kerala Snyder and Jeffrey Kurtzman, whose musicological assistance
is invaluable; Brian Clark, Kim Patrick Clough, Christine Kwon, and Grant
Herreid, who assisted in preparing scores and parts; Francesca Galesi, Nancy Tooney
and Erin Hanke, for assistance behind the scenes; Gene Murrow, Paul Ross, and
Naomi Morse, who so ably manage our box office stage management; Christine Hoff
man, for preparation of the program; Jeffrey Gall, for assistance with Venetian
pronunciation; Charles Weaver and Brian Clark, for their program notes; Doug
Keilitz and the staff of St. Ignatius of Antioch Church; Christopher Schulze, Pastor
Gregory Fryer, and Karen Rombey of Immanuel Lutheran Church; and lastly to my
dear husband Dongsok Shin, who labors mightily to provide for every need I might
imagine. - Gwendolyn Toth
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