Praetorius: Missa in Festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis

Featuring

Manfred Cordes
Volker Jänig
Alberto Turco
Weser-Renaissance Bremen
Nova Schola Gregoriana
Hieronymus Praetorius

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Performer Biography

Manfred Cordes, the conductor, founded the WESER-RENAISSANCE Bremen ensemble in 1993, specializing in 16th and 17th-century repertoire using historical instruments.

Interpretation

The recording uses a swallow's nest organ in St. Mary's Church in Lemgo, chosen for its mean-tone temperament ideal for the period's music.

Composition History

Hieronymus Praetorius's six masses are among the last complete polyphonic masses by German 17th-century composers, as by 1600, complete five-movement masses were rare among Lutherans.

Compositional Technique

Praetorius's masses are 'parody' or 'imitation' masses, meaning they reuse and adapt musical material from existing compositions, often his own motets.

Instruments

The swallow's nest organ in St. Mary's Church in Lemgo is the only organ of its kind from before the Thirty Years' War in Germany that is well-preserved and on its original site.

Compositional Technique

In this Mass, the setting of 'Trinitatem' (Trinity) is notable for being set to three different groups of three voices, symbolizing the Trinity.

Composer Biography

Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629) was the most esteemed organist-composer of the Hamburg Praetorius family, who served in Hamburg's main churches for over a century.