Praetorius: St.Michaels - Vesper

Hamburg was also worth a musical journey before Telemann and CPE Bach. Already in the first half of the 17th century there were numerous attractions and personalities of a rich musical life, in the centre of which stood the four main churches. Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629), organist at the Jacobikirche, was certainly the most industrious and fruitful composer of the Hamburg music dynasty and the first Hamburg musician of world renown. He became particularly famous for his early contributions to German-Venetian multiple choir music: around 100 Latin and German motets, six masses, and nine double-choir magnificats. These works and the groundbreaking organ pieces of the Visby tablature are the ones to which Hieronymus Praetorius owes an outstanding place in the history of music. cpo now presents with the ensemble WESER-RENAISSANCE under Manfred Cordes a collection of vocal and organ works, which could have been performed around 1620 at a vespers service on the day of Saint Michael.