Praetorius - Mass for Christmas Morning

List Price: $16.98
Our Price: $11.75
You Save: $5.23 (31%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $8.31 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases

Music CD Cover

Free Music Notes for Praetorius - Mass for Christmas Morning

Free Music Review: Tribute to a forgotten pioneering composer
Hit: 5 Stars

Praetorius was a very prolific composer whose total catalogue amounts to over 1300 works successfully attributed to him. These works range from simple harmonizations of popular Lutheran chorales (which were monophonic) to sonatas to grandiose polychoral settings employing the cori spezzati (divided choirs) which was developed in Venice under notable composers like Giovanni Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi. Praetorius emulated their styles and experimented with various instrumental and voice groupings for optimal acoustic effects. Praetorius also wrote a guide to how works of this grandiose nature should be performed in his very important musical treatise, Syntagma musicum which was wisely consulted by Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli consort to render as accurate a production as possible.

Praetorius' contributions to the Lutheran service musically cannot be adequately realized. Though Luther himself was very committed to using music in the services, much of the detail was left to individual congregations. Prateorius' work had a great effect on other prominent Lutheran composers who sought to repeat what he did with his music at their respective courts. This is seen in the music of Hans Leo Hassler and Heinrich Schutz and all of this influence would culminate in two of the greatest composers of Lutheran Church music in the Baroque, Georg Philip Telemann and, most importantly, Johann Sebastian Bach.

The works in this particular recording reflect what a Lutheran mass might have sounded like at Christmas morning. The works are not part of one continuous "Lutheran Christmas Mass" but taken from different sources of Praetorius' total catalogue, mainly the Musae Sionae.

The performance is nothing short of brilliant. The Gabrieli Consort has outdone itself once again. The voices blend together wonderfully and are never overshadowed by the instrumental forces. Everyone did their homework. All together, for any music historian or music student or just someone who likes Christams Church Music, this is a must.

Classical Music CDs

• Music > Styles
• Miscellaneous