Michael Praetorius is one of my favorite composers; I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything of his that I don’t like. He makes the transition from medieval/Renaissance-sounding things to a more modern—or maybe a more universal—feel, that touches me every time. He was one of those court composers—like Bach or Handel or (sort of) Mozart, which perhaps gave him the freedom to set his hand to whatever struck his fancy. Masses, motets; experimenting in surround-sound (by placing mini-choirs in different areas of the space)—these days, in the Valley They Call Silicon, they’d dub him a paradigm-shifting, disruptive-tech, game-changing thought leader, and venture capitalists would throw money at him.
In those days he served a succession of German princes,
ending at the court of Dresden.
“Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” is my all-time favorite
Christmas carol. I first learned it in a German class and I still only know the
words auf Deutsch. You probably know it as “Lo, How a Rose E’er
Blooming”. The intricate polyphony of this piece always speaks to me of voices
echoing in huge, candle-lit Gothic spaces, merging together on the final note
of each verse. I love it.
There are so many exquisite performances of this; I'm giving you the British a cappella group VOCES8.
©2024 Bas Bleu
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