Johann Mattheson has long been known as one of the most important music critics and theorists of eighteenth-century Germany. He was also a prominent performer and composer, though he seems to be more famous for his interactions with other composers (his duel with Handel in 1704 comes to mind). Mattheson was a child prodigy, performing as a singer and organist from the age of nine, and he eventually became employed as a singer, vocal coach and later composer and director at the Hamburg Gänsemarkt Opera. In 1715 he became the music director of St Mary's Cathedral, for which he wrote several large-scale vocal works for the principal feast days of the church year. He had to step down from this post in 1728, because of his worsening hearing loss. From that point on, he concentrated on theoretical, critical and historical writing (examples of which include Der vollkommene Kapellmeister (1739) and Grundlage einer Ehren-Pforte (1740)) and thereby continued to wield considerable influence on the musical life and culture of Hamburg.
German record label cpo and Michael Alexander Willens are to be commended for their ongoing commitment to recording little-known works of the past. The present recording is their third recent release of Mattheson's vocal works (the other two feature the 1723 oratorio Der liebreiche und geduldige David and the 1720 Christmas Oratorio Das größte Kind). The two works on the present recording are certainly worthy of widespread recognition. They help flesh out a portrait of a Hamburg luminary known more for what he wrote about other people's music than for his own not inconsiderable output.
The 1715 Christmas Oratorio (its complete title is Die heilsame Geburt und Menschwerdung unsers Herrn und Heilandes Jesu Christi) was Mattheson's first Christmas work for the Hamburg cathedral, and he seems to have gone out of his way to craft a suitably sober work for that conservative venue. It is divided into the customary two parts, the first to be performed before and the second after the sermon. The textual basis of the oratorio is the Nativity story as recounted in Luke 2:1–18, most of which is assigned to the tenor in the role of the Evangelist. There are no allegorical characters, as would abound in Mattheson's later oratorios. There are, however, arias (including a duet and a trio) that are vehicles for commentary and meditations on each portion of the Gospel narrative. The chorus assumes two speaking roles from Luke's text, namely the choir of angels (‘Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe’, track 16) and the choir of shepherds (‘Lasset uns hingehen gen Bethlehem’, track 20). The only solo speaking role is the angel, assigned to the first soprano, who announces the birth of Jesus to the shepherds (‘Fürchtet euch nicht’, track 12). The chorale ‘Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her’ is a unifying thread, appearing in different compositional guises in tracks 1, 8 and 14 (track 23 is a reprise of the opening movement with a different chorale stanza). The pastorale style in track 14 is one of the work's most pleasant surprises. Mattheson also puts his contrapuntal skills on full display, particularly in the Chorus of Angels (track 16), a textbook example of stile antico, and the fugal Chorus of Shepherds (track 20). The solo movements are for the most part brief and relatively restrained, with the notable exception of the duet for two sopranos, ‘Sterbliche, besingt mit Freuden’ (track 22). The biblical narration is accomplished but generally unremarkable, except for the occasional melisma or word repetition that embellishes the otherwise straightforward declamation.
The autograph score of the Magnificat a due cori (Mattheson's only setting of the Song of Mary for double choir) is dated 1716, but the first documented performance was at Christmas 1718, when it was performed after the sermon (the one-part oratorio Der verlangte und erlangte Heiland was performed before the sermon). The text is in German rather than Latin, which itself is no surprise for a Lutheran Magnificat. But Mattheson used only the first and last strophes of Luther's translation as the opening chorus (‘Meine Seele erhebet den Herren’, track 24 and its reprise in track 33) and the penultimate chorus (‘Wie er geredet hat unsern Vätern’, track 32). The remaining movements use a paraphrase of Luther's text to allow for greater poetic embellishment and musical expressivity. Mattheson's setting is notable for its effective antiphonal techniques, drawing on the style made famous in Italy by Giovanni Gabrieli and later cultivated in Germany by Schütz in particular.
For all the conservative aspects of the Christmas Oratorio described above, Mattheson staged a daring coup by engaging three woman soloists from the Opera who had never before been permitted to perform in any of the city's churches. This move met with much opposition (as reported in Ernest C. Harriss, Johann Matthseon's Der vollkommene Capellmeister: A Revised Translation with Critical Commentary (Ann Arbor: UMI, 1981), 868). At first he had to place these soloists where they could be heard but not seen, but eventually the public could not hear and see them enough. Mattheson considered woman singers indispensable in situations where castrati were not available; he thought boy singers were of little use (see Harriss, 868). It is not known if woman soloists participated in the 1718 performance of the Magnificat, but it is plausible that they did so.
The performing forces on this recording approximate what Mattheson considered the appropriate number for a suitable Kapelle. There are only eight singers, and all are a delight to the ear. The two sopranos (Nicki Kennedy and Anna Crookes), the first alto (Ursula Eittinger), the first tenor (Andreas Post) and the first bass (Stephan MacLeod) all excel in their solo turns. It is refreshing to hear the soloists join the ripienists in the choral movements, in contrast to the many concerts and recordings in which the soloists are mute most of the time (except perhaps during the ‘Amen’ chorus of Handel's Messiah). This recording illustrates clearly, especially in the double-choir Magnificat, that Mattheson achieved the maximum effect with a minimum of forces.
The Cologne Academy employs twenty-two players, a few more than would have been typical under Mattheson, who probably had fewer strings (except for the Magnificat, which needs two string groups) and perhaps an oboist who doubled on flute. The sound is more intimate than what one usually hears – no wall-to-wall choral masses – and is more nuanced, allowing for clear ornamentation.
The instrumentalists play with real verve, making the most of Mattheson's admittedly conservative material. While these works are not showpieces for virtuosic display, the concertmistress Catherine Manson does get to shine in the lovely duet from the Christmas Oratorio (track 22). The oboist Veit Scholz also gets a brief solo turn and adds tasteful embellishments in the ritornello (track 18) that follows the trio ‘Dir, Gott und Mensch, sei ewig Ehr' und Ruhm’ (track 17). In the Magnificat, the flautist Martin Sandhoff plays elegantly in the aria ‘Ich leide Durst, es hungert meiner Seelen’ (track 30).
There really is nothing major in this disc to complain about, just a minor quibble about the Christmas Oratorio. The chorale in track 14 consists of two stanzas of ‘Vom Himmel Hoch’, which Willens performs back to back. But this is in fact a falsification of how it would have been performed under Mattheson. The autograph notes that the first verse is to be sung before the sermon (end of part 1 of the oratorio) and the second verse after the sermon (beginning of part 2). The liner notes state not quite correctly that the sermon took place after the chorale. The recording of course does not include a Christmas sermon, nor should it, but the division might have been made more clear, if not by a separate track for each verse of the chorale, then perhaps by a more distinct break between the two. The list of movements in the liner notes could also have labelled the two parts of the oratorio so that its liturgical function was made more explicit. Decisions like this are probably unavoidable when the liturgical works of the past are divorced from their original contexts to become the concert works of the present.
With its attention to historical detail and ripping good performances all round, this disc is highly recommended. Mattheson is not only important for his theoretical and critical contributions, but also for his compositional output, which was by no means slight. It is a reminder of the richness and variety of the musical life of Hamburg, not only at the opera but also in its churches, which did enjoy the fruits of the opera and its innovations but also maintained their own more conservative traditions. Mattheson did not just counsel other composers how to write their music, but he put his ideas to practical use in his own accomplished works.
