Notes and Editorial Reviews
ROSENGART
Veni sancte spiritus. Tristes erant apostolic
. Magnificat.
Ave Maria. Hostis Herodes. Rorate coeli; Iste confessor. Christe redemptor. Cantate Domino. Tenebrae factae sunt. Lauda Sion. Qua vocat me. Ave maris stella. Te Deum laudamus
•
Jürgen Essl (org); cond; Orpheus Vocal Ens; Ars Antiqua Austria
•
CARUS 83427 (56:31
Text and Translation)
Okay, you ask, who was Pater Æmilian Rosengart (1757–1810),
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unknown except as a name even unto Wikipedia? The annotator of this recording, Andreas Taub, tells us that this almost exact contemporary of Mozart was one of the “monastery composers of the South-German late-Baroque.” Musically, Taub is quite correct: to judge by the first piece on this recording, a vivacious
Veni sancte spiritus
, this Swabian Benedictine was quite out of the circuit of musical development in the late 18th century. This need not be a bad thing and it provides a necessary corrective to the notion that music inevitably evolves. It also broadens the context into which we can place Mozart.
For someone not trained in composition (according to Taub), and who spent his life as a parish priest and, later, as professor of theology, Rosengart had a good ear. These are all short, simply but deftly constructed pieces intended only for use in the mass, though they are accompanied by strings, often with flutes and/or horns. The festive opening piece, which adds trumpets and timpani, makes a grander noise. They also suggest that the monastery at Ochsenhausen, where Rosengart worked, had, or had access to, a substantial instrumental establishment. Though “late-Baroque” is generally a good characterization of Rosengart’s style, there are one or two compositions,
Iste confessor Domini
for example, which remind one of the early Salzburg motets of the young Mozart. Taub points to parody (reuse of older material in a new context) as a standard technique of the time, but does not elaborate on this with respect to Rosengart. The brevity of some of these pieces—the complete Magnificat takes only three and a half minutes—may be exaggerated by the performance: the Corpus Christi sequence, “Lauda Sion,” for instance, gives only five of its 24 verses and still repeats the opening section. The notes imply that this is Rosengart’s arrangement, but I am not familiar enough with late-18th-century South-German liturgical use to know if this text was regularly so shortened in practice. Though there are no profound discoveries here, this is more than amateur stuff and well worth knowing about.
The newly formed conservatory choir (2005) makes a cheerful sound, though some of the soloists coming out of it, particularly the bass in
Qua vocat me
, encounter rather heavy weather in their parts. The orchestra is just fine. The whole is pitched at A=450 (the pitch of the monastery organ), which gives a pleasantly bright sound. These are first recordings, except for the
Ave Maria
and the
Te Deum
, which can be found on Orchestrola 77324.
FANFARE: Alan Swanson
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Works on This Recording
1.
Veni sancte spiritus by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
2.
Tristes erant apostolic by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
3.
Magnificat by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
4.
Ave Maria by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
5.
Hostis Herodes by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
6.
Rorate coeli by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
7.
Iste confessor by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
8.
Christe redemptor by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
9.
Cantate Domino by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
10.
Tenebrae factae sunt by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
11.
Lauda Sion by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
12.
Qua vocat me by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
13.
Ave maris stella by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
14.
Te Deum laudamus by Aemilian Rosengart
Performer:
Jürgen Essl (Organ)
Conductor:
Jürgen Essl
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ars Antiqua Austria,
Orpheus Vocal Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: Germany
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