COLLEGIUM MARIANUM BRING CHRISTMAS MUSIC

Supraphon release a Christmas album featuring previously unrecorded pieces. A remarkable debut of the Baroque composer Josef Antonín Sehling (SU 4174–2).

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 Christmas 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, also standing in as Kapellmeister over the long term. Sehling was Kapellmeister of several Prague churches, including the Church of Our Lady under the Chain, where the present Supraphon premiere recording was made by Collegium Marianum, headed by the ensemble’s artistic director Jana Semerádová.

Collegium Marianum’s previous album, featuring Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Lamen­tationes Jeremiæ Prophetæ, was released in September by Supraphon. The ensemble’s artistic director Jana Semerádová says: “This year has been very fruitful. Two months after recording Zelenka’s Lamen­tations, we plunged into making the ‘debut’ CD outing of Josef Antonín Sehling, a Saint Vitus Cathedral violinist, prolific composer and ardent collector of Italian scores, admirer of Caldara, and Kapellmeister at several Prague churches in the first half of the 18th century. His Christmas pastorales, arias, motets and offertories would provide ample scope for several recordings.”

Recording a Christmas album with a novel repertoire, even including works that have not previously been recorded, is a minor miracle, as Jana Semerádová confirms: “I was really lucky to have been able to collaborate on the programme with Milada Jonášová, a great connoisseur of Sehling and retexted Italian arias. Although I initially wanted the first Sehling recording to include pieces for other holidays as well, the Christmas theme eventually appeared to be a good idea, since we discovered diverse and compelling instrumented pieces, revealing Sehling as a versatile composer.”

The album, titled Christmas at Prague Cathedral, is part of Supraphon’s ac­claimed Music from Eighteenth-Century Prague edition. The compositions by Josef Antonín Sehling were recorded by Collegium Marianum, headed by Jana Semerádová, with the soloists Hana Blažíková (soprano), Markéta Cukrová (alto) and Tomáš Král (baritone).