Sunday Afternoon at the Opera - Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, Act 3; Telemann, Michaelis-Oratorium

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera host Keith Brown writes:

Wagner may have been the German musical colossus of the mid nineteenth century, but in the mid-eighteenth century it was Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) who really was the towering figure among composers of his time. He long outlived J. S. Bach, that cranky organ virtuoso in Leipzig, and out-composed him too. Telemann's catalog of compositions is absolutely gigantic. Bach wrote two Passions; Telemann wrote at least 47, plus maybe a thousand cantatas. Bach never wrote any opera at all; Telemann wrote at least six in both German and Italian language. Then there's his enormous output of instrumental music, which is still not completely cataloged. And there's the long list of civic compositions he wrote for the city of Hamburg.

In 1750 the St. Michaelis Lutheran church in the center of town burned to the ground. It took a dozen years to rebuild this city landmark, and for its re-dedication in 1762 Telemann wrote his Michaelis-Oratorium. A huge crowd of citizens witnessed the ceremonies. You get to hear what the dignitaries inside the church heard as performed in authentic baroque fashion by the singers and players of the Kölner Akademie, directed by Alexander Willens. The oratorio was recorded in Cologne in 2018 for release through the German CPO label on a single silver disc. This recording was favorably reviewed for Fanfare magazine (Nov/Dec, 2019 issue) by James A. Altena, who says, "The 81-year old Telemann, a resident of Hamburg since 1721 and indisputably the greatest living composer of his day, employed his skills to produce one of his finest and most expressive works. I never cease to be amazed at both his fecund genius and his seemingly inexhaustible powers of invention... This is a masterpiece not far behind the Bach Passions and Handel's Messiah in quality."