Johann David Heinichen (1683-1729)

[Scion7]

(b Krössuln, nr Weissenfels, 17 April 1683; d Dresden, 16 July 1729)

[in the voice of Gollum as played by Brother Theodore from the 1977 Rankin-Bass The Hobbit (not those horrible bastardized Peter Jackson movies)] -

. . . on my birthday . . . long ago . . . we gets it, my preciousssss . . . the MHS vinyl lp of German Baroque Violin Concertos . . . and we likes it, we does . . .

This was an interesting Musical Heritage Society release as the records were actually pressed by arrangement by Columbia!

Anyway, I quite like this pretty much little-known German composer.  His work, while Baroque, often sounds quite thoroughly Classical, like it could sit side-by-side with Haydn and you might not flinch a bit.  I've had the album forever and a day.      I'm recently picking up some CD's - found one in Charlotte for $2 - obviously, the proprietor does not care much about pricing his wares - which was fine with me.  Anybody else find him a pleasant time-passer?

[Scion7]

P.S. When I say little known, I'm speaking of the English-speaking world.  He may get many more rotations in Germany and Austria?

[Cato]

Yes!  Heinichen was pushed some decades ago - possibly by the Musical Heritage Society - as an unearthed diamond equivalent - or alternative - to Bach.

One might have expected Heinichen Hysteria to have washed over the classical-music audience and others, but...that seems not to have happened.

In either case, yes, Heinichen shows a tuneful talent.  Reinhard Goebel of Musica Antiqua Koeln is a leader in pushing this composer's work.

In Heinichen's sacred music written for the Catholic court church his immense skill as an orchestrator is combined with an assurance in the manipulation of form, text and vocal performance to provide the listener with a religious experience which upon comparison to the often austere feeling of much of J.S. Bach's work in this genre is akin to opening all the windows to let in fresh air. Some of the autograph manuscripts of his sacred music remarkably have performance timings added. These when realised in performance produce uncommonly fast tempi on the one hand and astonishingly slow tempi on the other.

See:

http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/acc/heinichen.php

[Cato]

Another quote of interest from the above website:

It is in the Festive Concerti per l'orchestra di Dresda or concerti per molti strumenti that Heinichen's imagination runs riot. Duplication in terms of formal layout is rare and each one is individually crafted. They appear as 3, 4 and 5 movement works and the complete orchestra appears in nearly all of them. It was a Dresden practise for orchestral oboes to double the violins - colla parte in the ripieno group, the lute was a permanent member of the ensemble and is a soloist in one of the concerti. In addition transverse flutes, recorders and horns (as soloists) are occasionally used. However what is unique is that not only do soloistic instruments vary from movement to movement but also the accompanying instruments. We have a concerto (Seibel 217), described on the score itself as "concerto grosso" in which up to 8 solo instruments are used - two transverse flutes, two violins, two violoncellos and two bassoons. Unisonic writing, in the Venetian style was held in particular esteem in Dresden, virtuosic bass writing, complex harmonies, purely descriptive writing and the insertion of quotations are all melded to produce an effervescent joie de vivre. Here is music that fully realises the potential of the Dresden Hofkapelle at its zenith!

See:

http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/acc/heinichen.php

[Cato]

The Concerti are available on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/v/QWb3-6PSVPw

[71 dB]

I have these two CPO discs of Heinichen's music and I enjoy them quite a lot:

[asin]B000031WHS[/asin]
[asin]B000AMMSGW[/asin]