Oratory for the inauguration of the new St. Michaelis Church

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Telemann cantata
Telemann.jpg
Oratory for the inauguration of the new St. Michaeliskirche
TWV: 2:12
Occasion: Inauguration of St. Michaelis Church in Hamburg
Year of origin: 1762
Place of origin: Hamburg
Genus: cantata
Solo: SATBB
Choir: SATB
Instr: 2,2,0,1 - 0,6,0,0 - Pk, Strings, Bc
WP: October 19, 1762
Duration: approx. 1 h
text
Joachim Johann Daniel Zimmermann

The oratorio for the inauguration of the new St. Michaeliskirche (Come again Lord, to the crowd of thousands in Israel) ( TWV 02:12) is a cantata by Georg Philipp Telemann . The text is by Joachim Johann Daniel Zimmermann . The first performance took place on October 19, 1762 in the St. Michaeliskirche in Hamburg .

prehistory

St. Michaelis Church (around 1760)
Cover of the text from 1762

On March 10, 1750, due to a lightning strike, the St. Michaelis Church, built between 1647 and 1669 in Hamburg's Neustadt district, burned down completely. Soon afterwards the reconstruction plans became concrete and the architects Johann Leonhard Prey and Ernst Georg Sonnin were commissioned to build a new building, which was inaugurated with a church service on October 19, 1762, albeit without the characteristic tower (built until 1786).

History of the oratorio

Georg Philipp Telemann was commissioned as music director of the five main Hamburg churches (including the "Michel") to create appropriate music for the inauguration ( consecration ) of the new church. The original text he was given came from Joachim Johann Daniel Zimmermann, who was archdeacon of St. Catherine's Church in Hamburg at the time . Telemann composed a somewhat longer cantata and decided on the term “oratorio”, which seemed more appropriate for the occasion.

Telemann directed the premiere himself, despite his old age of 81. It was Telemann's last public appearance before his death in 1767. The inauguration of the church was a major event in Hamburg, so that the Hamburg city council issued a code of conduct (“Notification, as those who want to attend the inauguration of the great St. Michaelis Church, have to behave there, October 11th, 1762 ") and their own carriage park regulations (" Notification, as it is held with the carriages at the inauguration of the great St. Michaelis Church should, Oct. 15, 1762 ") . The inauguration service was headed by the main pastor at the time, Ernst Ludwig Orlich .

The score remained unprinted in Telemann's time and is in the Berlin State Library and first appeared in the course of the new performance of the oratorio in 1982 in the St. Michaeliskirche in the Sikorski-Musikverlag . A new transcription was published in 2017 by Wolfgang Hirschmann in Bärenreiter-Verlag . The original text print of the oratorio from 1762 can be viewed in the Telemann Museum in Hamburg. In connection with the 250th anniversary of the inauguration of the "Michel", parts of the oratorio were performed again on October 21, 2012 as part of a festive divine service.

Instrumentation and content of the oratorio

The oratorio is composed for five solo voices ( soprano , alto , tenor , 2 basses ), mixed choir and orchestra .

It is divided into two parts "Before the sermon" and "After the sermon". In the first part, the old church is remembered and the day of destruction is remembered. Within the second part, the grace of God is asked and the hope is expressed that the building will be spared from disaster until the last day.

The oratorio closes with the aria

A prelude of the day that destroys everything,
Has injured you, O dwelling of the Most High;
Now don't sink earlier, because everything falls apart.
Yes, until the trumpet reveals the graves,
And fire fills the boundaries of creation,
You beautify Hamburg, and Hamburg the world!

literature

  • Oratory for the inauguration of the new St. Michaelis Church. Hamburg October 19th, 1762. Piscator, Hamburg 1762.
  • Wolfgang Hirschmann: The city as a social structure and field of tension. Telemann's festival music for the inauguration of the Great St. Michaelis Church (Hamburg 1762). Presentation at the Telemann conference, Magdeburg 2010.

Recordings (selection)

  • Oratory for the dedication of the new St. Michaelis Church 1762 , jpc, DDD, 2018, Rahel Maas, Marian Dijkhuizen, Julian Podger, Klaus Mertens , Mauro Borgioni, Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/dms/load/img/?PPN=PPN644909617&IDDOC=682681
  2. ↑ Werner Menke: The vocal work Georg Philipp Telemann's. Tradition and timing. Gain. 1940. Phil. Diss. Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 1942. p. 92.