SKU: CA.3106212

ISBN 9790007043629. Key: B minor. Language: German/English. Text: Luther, Martin. Text: Martin Luther.

Bach's second cantata starting with the text Come now, God's chosen saviour (II) BWV 62 was first performed in 1724 on the 1st Advent Sunday (which, at that time, was the only Advent Sunday with church music in Leipzig) and belongs to the annual cycle of chorale cantatas. As was usual for chorale cantatas, the unknown librettist used the first and last verses of Martin Luther's hymn verbatim for the opening chorus and the concluding chorale but adapted the texts of the inner verses. After two contrasting arias - the one dance-like, the second almost heroic - an almost enraptured accompagnato (Wir ehren diese Herrlichtkeit, und nahen nun zu deiner Krippen), in which the soprano and contralto mostly sing in parallel thirds and sixths, leads to a simple concluding chorale. Score and part available separately - see item CA.3106200.

SKU: CA.3106209

ISBN 9790007043605. Key: B minor. Language: German/English. Text: Luther, Martin. Text: Martin Luther.

Bach's second cantata starting with the text Come now, God's chosen saviour (II) BWV 62 was first performed in 1724 on the 1st Advent Sunday (which, at that time, was the only Advent Sunday with church music in Leipzig) and belongs to the annual cycle of chorale cantatas. As was usual for chorale cantatas, the unknown librettist used the first and last verses of Martin Luther's hymn verbatim for the opening chorus and the concluding chorale but adapted the texts of the inner verses. After two contrasting arias - the one dance-like, the second almost heroic - an almost enraptured accompagnato (Wir ehren diese Herrlichtkeit, und nahen nun zu deiner Krippen), in which the soprano and contralto mostly sing in parallel thirds and sixths, leads to a simple concluding chorale. Score and parts available separately - see item CA.3106200.

SKU: CA.3106211

ISBN 9790007043612. Key: B minor. Language: German/English. Text: Luther, Martin. Text: Martin Luther.

Bach's second cantata starting with the text Come now, God's chosen saviour (II) BWV 62 was first performed in 1724 on the 1st Advent Sunday (which, at that time, was the only Advent Sunday with church music in Leipzig) and belongs to the annual cycle of chorale cantatas. As was usual for chorale cantatas, the unknown librettist used the first and last verses of Martin Luther's hymn verbatim for the opening chorus and the concluding chorale but adapted the texts of the inner verses. After two contrasting arias - the one dance-like, the second almost heroic - an almost enraptured accompagnato (Wir ehren diese Herrlichtkeit, und nahen nun zu deiner Krippen), in which the soprano and contralto mostly sing in parallel thirds and sixths, leads to a simple concluding chorale. Score and part available separately - see item CA.3106200.

SKU: CA.3106207

ISBN 9790007043599. Key: B minor. Language: German/English. Text: Luther, Martin. Text: Martin Luther.

Bach's second cantata starting with the text Come now, God's chosen saviour (II) BWV 62 was first performed in 1724 on the 1st Advent Sunday (which, at that time, was the only Advent Sunday with church music in Leipzig) and belongs to the annual cycle of chorale cantatas. As was usual for chorale cantatas, the unknown librettist used the first and last verses of Martin Luther's hymn verbatim for the opening chorus and the concluding chorale but adapted the texts of the inner verses. After two contrasting arias - the one dance-like, the second almost heroic - an almost enraptured accompagnato (Wir ehren diese Herrlichtkeit, und nahen nun zu deiner Krippen), in which the soprano and contralto mostly sing in parallel thirds and sixths, leads to a simple concluding chorale. Score available separately - see item CA.3106200.

SKU: CA.4068719

ISBN 9790007311384. Key: C minor. Latin.

A mass setting by Robert Schumann? This is still likely to cause surprise among audiences – after all, Schumann is not generally viewed as a sacred composer. Indeed, his little-known late work, the Missa sacra, Op. 147, is a discovery not just for listeners but often for the performers themselves. The mass combines an acute fascination with sacred liturgy typical of Schumann’s time with the pragmatism of its intended use by a local choral society. The composer employs his considerable skills to create a captivating and varied score that is almost ethereal in the Kyrie, leading to passages of an intimate and lyrical piano that alternate with fortissimo for words of praise, while always displaying the utmost sensitivity and a delight in dissonance. The composer declared his setting to be “fashioned with great love”.
The demanding orchestral mass can be realized with limited means. The solo parts can be filled from the choir. The work, which the composer himself did not have published, is here reissued on the basis of Schumann’s partial autograph score.
Carus has also produced an arrangement of the work for choir and organ, enabling performances without orchestra in smaller venues (Carus 40.687/45).

. Score and parts available separately - see item CA.4068700.

SKU: CA.3116803

ISBN 9790007166724. Language: German/English. Text: Franck, Salomo. Text by Salomo Franck.

The text of Bach's cantata Tue Rechnung! Donnerwort was published in 1715, that is during Bach's Weimar period, in the Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer by Salomon Frank. This concisely-written but powerful work was, however, only composed ten years later in Leipzig, and was heard for the first time on 29 July 1725, the 9th Sunday after Trinity. Its main dramatic-musical emphasis lies clearly in the first movement, a dark, almost operatic movement for baritone and string orchestra in B minor. By contrast, the ensuing aria for tenor with obbligato oboe accompaniment is distinctly more intimate, and the duet between soprano and alto - just accompanied by continuo - is more restrained in its musical language and expression than the first movement. In between there are two extended recitatives, the first of which leads into an arioso. The breadth of expression within the cantata is striking, its opening movement a masterpiece of Bach's dramatic writing. Score available separately - see item CA.3116800.

SKU: CA.3116807

ISBN 9790007242220. Language: German/English. Text: Franck, Salomo.

The text of Bach's cantata Tue Rechnung! Donnerwort was published in 1715, that is during Bach's Weimar period, in the Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer by Salomon Frank. This concisely-written but powerful work was, however, only composed ten years later in Leipzig, and was heard for the first time on 29 July 1725, the 9th Sunday after Trinity. Its main dramatic-musical emphasis lies clearly in the first movement, a dark, almost operatic movement for baritone and string orchestra in B minor. By contrast, the ensuing aria for tenor with obbligato oboe accompaniment is distinctly more intimate, and the duet between soprano and alto - just accompanied by continuo - is more restrained in its musical language and expression than the first movement. In between there are two extended recitatives, the first of which leads into an arioso. The breadth of expression within the cantata is striking, its opening movement a masterpiece of Bach's dramatic writing. Score available separately - see item CA.3116800.

SKU: CA.2302007

ISBN M-007-24884-0. German/English. Text: Franz Xaver Huber.

In his Passion oratorio Christus am Olberge [The Mount of Olives], Beethoven succeeded firstly in building on the 18th century tradition, and secondly in putting his own personal stamp on the nascent genre of German-language oratorio - the Vienna performances of Haydn's Die Schopfung and Die Jahreszeiten had only taken place a few years earlier. In composing the work he looked towards contemporary opera, using a text by an opera librettist to depict in music the dramatic situation of the doubting Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and his arrest. Yet we do not do justice to Beethoven's work if we simply regard it as a successor work to Graun's Der Tod Jesu or even Bach's St Matthew Passion. Beethoven's Christus am Olberge is characterized less by religious devotion and much more by the dramatic realization of a specific situation in the Passion story in deeply-felt musical scenes. With its magnificent, almost operatic music, this is a different Passion oratorio which is definitely worth hearing and experiencing - and in this form it is without doubt unique in the history of vocal-instrumental sacred music. The edition follows the first printed edition in music and text; differences in the text in the libretto originally set by Beethoven are given as a second text, and a singable English translation is underlaid. Score available separately - see item CA.2302000.

SKU: CA.4068703

ISBN 9790007239718. Key: C minor. Latin.

A mass setting by Robert Schumann? This is still likely to cause surprise among audiences – after all, Schumann is not generally viewed as a sacred composer. Indeed, his little-known late work, the Missa sacra, Op. 147, is a discovery not just for listeners but often for the performers themselves. The mass combines an acute fascination with sacred liturgy typical of Schumann’s time with the pragmatism of its intended use by a local choral society. The composer employs his considerable skills to create a captivating and varied score that is almost ethereal in the Kyrie, leading to passages of an intimate and lyrical piano that alternate with fortissimo for words of praise, while always displaying the utmost sensitivity and a delight in dissonance. The composer declared his setting to be “fashioned with great love”. The demanding orchestral mass can be realized with limited means. The solo parts can be filled from the choir. The work, which the composer himself did not have published, is here reissued on the basis of Schumann’s partial autograph score. Carus has also produced an arrangement of the work for choir and organ, enabling performances without orchestra in smaller venues (Carus 40.687/45).