Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era

This volume presents three examples of the rich a cappella tradition of eighteenth-century Vienna. Masses by Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1715-77), Georg Reutter (1708-72), and Leopold Hofmann (1738-93) offer insights into the continuing significance of vocal polyphony in an age when instrumental music enjoyed increasing prestige. Indeed, two of these composers, Wagenseil and Hofmann, were well known as leading representatives of emergent instrumental genres such as the symphony and the concerto. Their important contributions to a preeminently vocal idiom underscore the close relationship between vocal and instrumental styles at this time. The widespread use of the pedagogical method codified in Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum (1725) demonstrates that the precepts of the stile antico had relevance generally for composers of the period, and not just for adherents of antiquarianism. A cappella compositions thus embody a complex and fascinating tension between old and new, conservative and progressive.

Performance parts for the basso continuo instruments are also available. These parts are derived from the performance practices outlined in the introduction to the edition. The part set provides both violoncello and violone parts for the Reutter mass and a violone part for the Hofmann mass.

Music Sample

Contents
Missa a quattro da Capella, Georg Christoph Wagenseil

Kyrie
Credo
Sanctus
Benedictus
Agnus Dei

Kyrie
Credo
Sanctus
Benedictus
Agnus Dei

Kyrie
Gloria
Credo
Sanctus
Benedictus
Agnus Dei