Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach: Miserere Mei Deus (sung in Latin)
From the Rittersaal (Knight's Hall) in Wolfegg, Germany in 1988 Bach Collegium Stuttgart & Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart Helmuth Rilling - conductor Ibolya Verebics - soprano Christel Borchers - alto Uwe Heilmann - tenor Daniel Lichti - bass Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach - Miserere Mei Deus The 12 parts: 1:48 1. Choir "Miserere mei Deus" 4:32 2. Aria (Soprano) "Amplius lava me" 9:30 3. Duet (Tenor, Bass) "Tibi soli peccavi" 12:54 4. Choir "Ecce enim" 15:37 5. Aria (Alto) "Asperges me" 19:48 6. Aria (Tenor) "Averte faciem tuam" 24:19 7. Choir "Redde mihi laetitiam" 26:16 8. Duet (Soprano, Alto) "Libera me" 31:00 9. Aria (Bass) "Domine labia mea aperies" 33:35 10. Aria (Alto) "Sacrificium Dea" 37:44 11. Terzetto (Soprano, Alto, Tenor) "Benigne fac Domine" 40:14 12. Choir "Tunc acceptabis" On a manuscript auction in December 1975 the autographical score of a to that date totally unknown composition of Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, the second youngest son of Bach, called the "Bückenburger", was sold: a MISERERE for solo-part, 4 voiced mixed choir and a string orchestra with Basso Continuo. In 1987 the composer and musicologist Wolfgang Wiemer succeeded to find the new owner of the manuscript in America and to convince him to make it accessible to the public by the first performance by Helmuth Rilling and the choir of Gächingen and the Bach-Collegium. The composition is based on the whole Latin text of the 50th Psalm (the 51st Psalm according to the counting of the Protestant-Lutheran Psalter), an atonement psalm containing many well-known passages. The opus consists of 12 compositional parts: 4 parts for choir, the rest for the solo-voices Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass, partially together in duets and terzettos. The date of origin is 1770, the year which was found on the front page of the contemporary score-copy, which was detected as the only additional source in the National Library of Paris. For its volume and its extraordinary expressiveness this Psalm composition will be considered as one of the most important works not only of the "Bückenburger" master, but also of the ecclesiastical music of the Early Classical Period.
