Homilius: Christmas & Advent Cantatas

Featuring

Georg Poplutz
Hanna Herfurtner
Mauro Borgioni
Michael Alexander Willens
Franziska Gottwald
Kölner Akademie

Gottfried August Homilius

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Compositional Technique

The cantatas on this album, composed for Lutheran worship, follow a similar structure: a lengthy opening chorus, followed by recitatives and arias, and concluding with a stanza from a church hymn.

Critical Reception

After the mid-19th century, Homilius's works fell into oblivion and were criticized by older musicologists as a 'decline in church music,' but have seen a rediscovery in the last two decades.

Critical Reception

Homilius's compositions were very popular and widely disseminated during his lifetime, with copies found as far as the Baltic countries and Rumania.

Composer Biography

Gottfried August Homilius, the composer of these cantatas, was called 'probably the best church composer discernible today' during his lifetime.

Compositional Technique

Homilius's music shows elements of early classicism and the 'sensitive' style, with cantata choruses often homophonic and songlike, and polyphonic sections being rare.

Composer Biography

Homilius was appointed organist at the Frauenkirche in Dresden in 1742 and later became cantor and music director at Dresden's three principal churches in 1755.