diumenge, 5 d’octubre del 2025

HOFFMANN, Melchior (c.1679-1715) - Meine Seele rühmt und preist

Godfried Schalcken (1643-1706) - Diana and Her Nymphs in a Clearing


Melchior Hoffmann (c.1679-1715) - Meine Seele rühmt und preist
(previously attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach as BWV 189)
Performers: Raphаël Höhn (tenor); Nеumеyer Consort; Felix Kοch (conductor)

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German composer and organist. He received his musical training from Johann Christoph Schmidt when he was choirboy in the Dresden Hofkapelle. In 1702, he settled in Leipzig and enrolled at the university to study law. He also joined the student collegium musicum founded by Georg Philipp Telemann. When Telemann left Leipzig in June 1705, he succeeded him as organist and music director of the Neukirche, and took over as director of Telemann’s collegium musicum. He was also conductor of the Leipzig civic opera for which he wrote a number of works. In 1709 he met the violinist and composer Johann Georg Pisendel, who became leader of the orchestra of Hoffmann’s collegium. At this time the ensemble consisted of 50 to 60 musicians and had won fame and recognition beyond the Leipzig area. He seems to have visited England between 1709 and 1710, but no details are known. In 1713 he applied, along with Johann Sebastian Bach and three other candidates, to succeed Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow as organist at the Liebfrauenkirche in Halle. When Bach eventually declined the appointment on 19 March 1714 the Halle consistory offered it to Hoffmann, but although he officially accepted the post he never took up his duties there. On 9 September 1714 he married Margaretha Elisabeth Philipp and in the same month became one of the few Leipzig musicians of the time to be granted citizenship. He had been suffering from a serious illness since 1713 and died on the evening of 6 October 1715, aged only 36. As a composer, he was highly regarded during his life and Charles Burney stated as 'one of the finest composers of the first half of the 18th century'.

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