Sehling: Christmas in Prague Cathedral. Music from Eighteenth-Century Prague

Josef Antonín Sehling (1710-1756) - Rorate I & II, Aria per Adventu Domini "Donner und Hagel", Duetto "Vis ingens est favori", Motetti per la Nativit? di Nostro Signore "Deponite metum", "Dormi nate, mi mellite", Pastorales "Eja, laeti properemus", "Eja, surgite pastores", "Non sic cervus ad fluentem", "Dormi, tenellule", Aria per ogni festivit? "Vos stellae preclarae", Offertorium de Sanctis Tribus Regis "Ecce magi veniunt". Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741) - Sonata pastorale ? tre, KV 397

Hana Blažíková - soprano, Markéta Cukrová - alto, Tomáš Král - baritone, Collegium Marianum, artistic director: Jana Semerádová

Precious few countries can boast of a Christmas repertoire as ample and colourful as that possessed by the Czech Republic. The Baroque era imbued the texts of songs with enchanting, tender poetics - with awestruck yet perplexed shepherds enthusing about the beautiful infant Jesus. Later on, a growing number of formally more complex pieces (pastorales) were written, most of them taking the form of arias or duets with instrumental accompaniment. A notable composer in this respect was Josef Antonín Sehling. Although still anchored in the Baroque world, he paved the way for the accession of a new musical style. He studied in Vienna and subsequently worked in Prague as a member of Count Václav Morzin's renowned orchestra and as second violin at Saint Vitus Cathedral, although standing in as Kapellmeister over the long term (an interesting parallel can be drawn with Zelenka, the "counter-bassist" at the court orchestra in Dresden). Sehling was Kapellmeister of several Prague churches, including the Church of Our Lady under the Chain, where the present world premiere recording was made. The album features pieces intended for the period from Advent to Epiphany. Sehling's music contains the magic of Michna's songs yet concurrently opens upon a world familiar from Ryba's Christmas Mass...

Josef Antonín Sehling - Christmas music from the churches of Baroque Prague