Telemann: Komm wieder, Herr, zu der Menge der Tausenden in Israel, TWV 2:12

Featuring

Michael Alexander Willens
Klaus Mertens
Julian Podger
Mauro Borgioni
Rahel Maas
Marian Dijkhuizen

Kölner Akademie
Kölner Akademie choir
Georg Philipp Telemann

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Recording & Production

This recording is the first historically accurate reconstruction of the oratorio's original ensemble size and performance practices, relying on a historical-critical edition of the work.

Composition History

The libretto for Telemann's oratorio, written by Joachim Johann Daniel Zimmermann, incorporates details from his sermons given after the 1750 church fire, interpreting the event as an anticipation of the Last Judgment.

Historical Context

The St. Michael's Church fire in Hamburg in 1750 was seen by the city's orthodox clergy, including the oratorio's librettist Joachim Johann Daniel Zimmermann, as a "judgment of God" on the inhabitants.

Historical Context

The dedication ceremony for the new St. Michael's Church on October 19, 1762, was a major civic and religious event, attended by over 5,000 people and featuring a procession with trumpets and timpani.

Composition History

Telemann's Oratorio for the dedication of the new St. Michael's Church was composed for the consecration of the rebuilt St. Michael's Church in Hamburg, which had been destroyed by fire in 1750.

Compositional Technique

The oratorio's opening is unusual, beginning not with festive splendor but with a serious, imploring chorus in the motet style, followed by a canonic fanfare from two trumpet/timpani choirs, likely placed in different parts of the church for a "stereo effect."

Compositional Technique

Telemann's oratorio features an unusually large ensemble for its time, including ten singers, twelve violinists, woodwinds, violists, instrumental basses, and eight musicians for two trumpet/timpani choirs, plus organ and harpsichord.