Zelenka, Jan Dismas : Miserere in C minor ZWV 57

Very Expressive, Please! Jan Dismas Zelenka’s musical setting of Psalm 50, “Miserere mei Deus, ” was presumably intended for the 1738 Holy Week. Thus, the composition is situated chronologically between the Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis (1736) * and the Missa votiva (1739), two compositions from the cycle of Zelenka’s five late masses, considered the culmination of his sacred-music work. Strong contrasts are a conspicuous stylistic feature of the Miserere c-moll, which Zelenka moderates by embedding them within the entire work’s cyclic arch form. The score and parts of this new edition are based on volume 108 of the series “Das Erbe deutscher Musik, ” which was comprehensively revised by Wolfgang Horn in 2018, especially the preface and the critical rep Ort. “Zelenka’s artistic personality, his biography and his compositional style are utterly distinctive. His style is highly experimental. Was Zelenka really one of the greatest composers of the 18th century, or only one of the most interesting? I think that he still has several surprises for us. ” (Schweizerische Musikzeitung) “Zelenka’s Masses – fine specimens of Baroque choral literature, some parts of which are set even more colorfully than in the corresponding compositions by Bach. ” (Die Welt)