This recording is part of a larger project by Opella Musica and Gregor Meyer to record all of Johann Kuhnau's surviving vocal works by 2022, marking the 300th anniversary of his death.
Instruments
The organ used for this recording was built by the famous organ builder Gottfried Silbermann and Zacharias Hildebrand in 1718-1721 for St. George's Church in Rötha.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Kuhnau's church music is stylistically diverse, ranging from 17th-century sacred arias to Neumeister-style cantatas, challenging the historical image of him as a backward-looking composer.
Composition History
Johann Kuhnau, a predecessor of J.S. Bach as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, composed a vast amount of church music, though only a fraction of his works survive today.
Performer Biography
Opella Musica, the vocal ensemble on this recording, debuted in 2011 and is known for performing Baroque music with small forces to achieve transparent textures.
Instruments
This Silbermann organ was inspected and approved by Johann Kuhnau, the Thomaskantor, and Gottfried Ernst Pestel, the Altenburg court organist, on November 8, 1721.
Historical Context
Kuhnau, as Thomaskantor, engaged in disputes with innovative young composers like Georg Philipp Telemann in Leipzig, not to banish modern operatic style, but to restore the Thomaskantor's dominant musical position.
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Bach, J.S.: Oster-Oratorium, BWV 249; Bach, C. P. E.: Danket dem Herrn H. 824e; Heilig H. 778
