Krieger: 12 Trio Sonatas, Op. 2

Featuring

Christian Zincke
Martin Jopp
Thomas C. Boysen
Anne Marie Dragosits
Reinhild Waldek
Elisabeth Seitz

Echo du Danube
Johann Philipp Krieger

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Composer Biography

Johann Philipp Krieger received formative musical inspiration and lessons in Italy, particularly Venice and Rome, from renowned composers like Francesco Cavalli, Giovanni Legrenzi, and Bernardo Pasquini.

Compositional Technique

These 17th-century Baroque sonatas, like those by Krieger, are characterized by short, varied movements that string together 'brilliant pearls' of spontaneous thoughts and fluctuating moods, rather than developing a grand drama.

Historical Context

The 17th century, known as the Baroque Era, was characterized by extreme contradictions, including famine, plague, and witch hunts, alongside the construction of splendid palaces and churches.

Historical Context

Johann Philipp Krieger, the composer of these sonatas, was born around ten years after the German Baroque poet Andreas Gryphius described the horrors of the Thirty Years' War in his sonnet 'Tears of the Fatherland'.

Compositional Technique

Krieger's sonatas blend Italian influences, such as operatic cantabile and instrumental virtuosity, with German contrapuntal church style and French dance forms like the courante and gigue, and even older English gamba traditions.

Interpretation

The ensemble Echo du Danube, led by gambist Christian Zincke, approaches these works with varied tempos, dynamics, articulation, and ornamentation, using a diverse basso continuo featuring harpsichord, organ, harp, theorbo, and salterio.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Baroque music, including these sonatas by Krieger, aimed to express human feelings and heal troubled individuals by mirroring life's struggles and emotions in art, often concluding with a 'lieto fine' or happy ending.