Search - P. Erlebach, Les Amis de Philippe, Ludger Remy :: Erlebach: Selected Sacred Cantatas

A fine pre-Bach Lutheran musician

Rob | Fullerton, NE USA | 07/13/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Much of the music of Philipp Heinrich Erlebach was lost in a fire in 1735. This is undoubtedly why few have heard of his musical contributions.



Yet Erlebach, who became the court music director in Rudolstadt, was a respected composer and enterprising music director in his day. He wrote more than 750 sacred and secular works, using the older German style, the newer Italian style that spread through Germany in the 1600's, and the up and coming French style that became the vogue in the mid 1690's. This is known from two catalogues Erlebach wrote that described his musical output.



Even though much of his music perished in the castle fire, still some of his works were included in music collections of the late 1600's / early 1700's that did survive. Samuel Jacobi compiled a collection of more than 400 individual manuscripts by many German and Italian masters (mostly from the late 17th century). In this collection, Erlebach was represented by 27 sacred cantatas. These cds present seven of these cantatas. Two other selections were taken from Erlebach's printed cantata edition Gott-geheiligte Sing-Stunde (1704).



Erlebach's music is harmonic, lyrical, and a good representation of a composer between Schutz and Bach. He uses brass and other instruments to full effect, especially the strings. The texts include paraphrases of Biblical verses, and many were cantatas for specific days in the church year (like the 10th Sunday after Trinity).



All in all, it's a good addition. CPO should be praised for recording these lost musical masters with hard to find pieces.





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