Zelenka: Missa Nativitatis Domini, Magnificat. Music from Eighteenth-Century Prague

Missa Nativitatis Domini, ZWV 8; Magnificat in C major, ZWV 107; O magnum mysterium (Motetto pro Nativitate), ZWV 171; motet Chvalte Boha silného, ZWV 165

Barbora Sojková - soprano, Markéta Cukrová - alto, Tomáš Král - bass
Musica Florea (on period instruments), conductor: Marek Štryncl

Following on from the previous two titles (Sepolcri, SU 4068-2; Melodrama de Sancto Wenceslao, SU 4113-2), Supraphon's Music From Eighteenth-Century Prague series now reflects Prague-related works by Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745), whose pieces were performed at the city's churches with increasing frequency from the middle of the 1730s. One such composition was Missa nativitatis, ZWV 8, preserved at the Saint Nicolas Church in Prague's Lesser Town; another copy is from C. Ph. E. Bach's personal effects, which indicates that this very piece was one of the two Zelenka masses his father Johann Sebastian had in his library. The aria of the Christmas motet O magnum mysterium is derived from the mentioned melodrama; Zelenka furnished it with a different text and added two flutes. The motet Chvalte Boha silného (Praise God Almighty), a setting of Psalm 150, is most likely the one and only Zelenka piece to a Czech text and has only been preserved in Prague copies. The Advent spirit is supplemented by with the Marian hymn Magnificat. Zelenka's lesser-known works are once again presented within the acclaimed Supraphon series by Musica Florea, a renowned Baroque orchestra who stood at the beginning of the modern discovery of this exceptional composer.

Lesser-known works of Jan Dismas Zelenka - music (not only) for Advent and Christmas.