C. E. F. Weyse

* Julekantate Nr.3
* Paaskkantate Nr.1

Bodil Arnesen [S], Dorte E. Larsen [S],
Kirsten Dolberg [A], Peter Groenlund [T], Stephen Milling [B]
Tivolis Koncertkor, Tivolis Symfoniorkester/Michael Schoenwandt
Naxos DaCapo 8.554962

Summary for the busy executive: Fine like hell.

Christoph Ernst Friederich Weyse was born the 5 of March 1774 in Altona
in Holstein.  His first education in music was in singing and piano- and
violinplaying, in his homevillage and in Hamburg, where C.P.E Bach was
music director.  However Weyse was never a pupil of this famous musician.
On the other hand he met a professor C.F.Cramer from Kiel, who made a place
in Koepenhavn (Copenhagen) at the leader of the Royal Chapel J.A.P.  Schulz
for him.  He also studied with the very knowadgeble chancellorsecter Peter
Groenland, who also was a Holsteinian.  He had to learn the Danish language
when he came to Copenhagen, as german was his mother tounge, but after a
few years he seemed to have mastered this the Danish language.  However
he at first i Koepenhavn got in touch with the Germans who held great
influence in the Danish capital - for example the family Schliemann and the
circle around the S:t Petri Church.  Apparently he managed to keep out from
the "fightings" between Danes and Germans in this time.  The 1790ies were
studyyears for Weyse.  He lived at Schulz place, he played his violin and
his piano and worked with compositiontechnique.  He started also his own
project and soon was on the go with own projects, for example he started
to play the organ, and talented as he was, he soon played in several
churches.  A bunch of works were composed in this time and are collected
in "Jugendarbeiten", dated 1790-1794.  They include pianopieces and songs
in the stuly of Schulz "Lieder in Volkston".  The early pianopieces of
Weyse can very well also be thought to be played by an organ.  In the
collection there is a chor to orchestraaccompaigment "Der Herr ist Gott",
with a great final fugue, which is interesting as it point forward towards
the later cantatas.  Beside his work as composer and organist he also found
time to play the piano at the citys musical societies, f.e.  Harmonien and
Det Musikaliske Akademi.  He loved to play Mozarts pianoconcerts, and it
was also for such events he composed and perfromed his seven symphonies.
In the year 1800 he also started compose the music to his "Syngespil"
"Sovedrikken" to a German text by C.F Bretzner, which lit Oelenschlaeger
on fire.  Everything seemed to promise Weyse a good career as composer,
when he suddenly stopped compose.  He had fell in love with one of his
pupils, Julie Tutein, a daughter of a rich Copenhagian tradesman.  She
didn't answer his love and he felt so bad from that so he couldn't compose
for many years.  He was, as he said it himself "Kjeg af Kunsten, mig Sjelv
och det hele Liv" ["Tired of the Art, myself and the whole life"].  In 1807
he heard Mozarts opera "Don Juan" on the Royal Theather, and this event
blew new life into him again, and he took up his work on "Sovedrikken"
again.  Four months later "his" church was bombed to shaed, so he concerts
were moved to the Trinitatiskirche.  He notes the English attack in his
autobiography from 1820.  "Sovedrikken" was performed in the Royal Theater
with great success in 1809, and stayed on the repertoire for many years,
also after Weyses death.  The same year, 1809, Weyse started to educate
princess Caroline, and in the wake of that he wrote two new theaterpieces,
for the king; Oehlenschlaegers "Faruk" [1812] and "Ludlams Hule" [1816].
They didn't however come to live especially long, due to a respected
critics [Baggesen] witty and murderous writings on Oehlenschlaegers text.
Weyses music however wasn't critizied, and he became more and more
respected in the musical elite of Denmark, and he became professor 1817,
and in 1819, he became Hofkomponist (Courtal composer), so he had to write
music for court as well as the church.  Already in 1817 Weyse had written
his first great cantata, to the 300year celebration of the Reformation.  It
was a great success, and Weyse recieved much good critic for it.  Weyses
cantatas were not, like J.S.  Bachs, supposed to be included in the divine
service as litugic music.  They had about the same fuction as the yearly
easterconcerts, and had a broad public support, what is proven by that they
were performed at the royal theatre as well as in the church.  The year
thereafter Weyse was asked to write a christmascantata to text of the
respected poet Thomas Thaarup (1749-1821).  The cooperation continued the
following years with a passionscatata and cantatas for easter and newyear
celebrations.  As a general rule, king Fredrik IV controlled the birth of
new cantatas through his bureaucracy.  First a text was ordered from the
poets, and when this was accepted, Weyse was asked to write the music for
it.  Weyse often had to write his cantatas in very short time, but although
the conditions of working were bad, Weyse has used both brain and heart in
this work.  Weyse wrote all in all about 30 cantatas, depending on what one
wants to count as a cantata.  Weyse has written a great ammount of shorter
works for choir and orchestra, but the real cantatas has as a general rule
at lest half a dozen movements.  They start all with a chor, followed by
moveemnts of different length and form; Two-, three-, four,- five-voiceed
lyric soloensembles, dramatic recetatives, arias, and here and there also
chorals and other choirmovements.  Finally again a great chor which not
seldom turns into a great fugue.  They were the churchmusics special idiom
and the proof for the composers classic education.  Weyses music was indeed
popular, the mighty chors made a great impression, and the romanceensembles
were appreciated by the audience.  Weyse has a large choir to wrote for,
and also large orchestra, The Royal Chapel.  As professor he was also asked
to write cantatas for the universitys different events.  These were written
for male chorus as women were not allowed to study at the university in
this time.  So Weyse wrote different kind of cantatas, and with those and
his interesting seven symphonies he became the composer of Denmarks golden
age.  With his plays, organimprovisations, or his romances and songs he was
very well known throughout whole Denmark, and his romances wer sung long
after his death in the bourgeoise homes, at societies meetings, and finally
also in the church, although that probably never was Weyses intent.  His
play "Sovedrikken" was the most frequently played work, followed by his
plays to Shakespeares "MacBeth" and Ewalds "Balders Doed".  Many of his
cantatas are in print, nad in the later years Denmarks Radio has looked for
that his cantatas has been performed again.  And now stands here this
recording by Schoenwant and the Tivoli, as an accompaigment to the seven
symphonies, also recorded for NAXOS DaCapo in 1993-94.  The liner notes
provide most of the information on Weyse above.

The Eastercantata nr.1 (from 1821) starts as most of the other with a chor
wityh full orchestra accompaigment, and opens out in a fugue, where the
sopranos sing the text, and the males sing halleluja.  This is followed by
a slow terzetto with sopranos and strings only, in which we are told about
Jesus life, evrything sweetly lyrical until a joy breaks out to the words:
"Thou triumphed over grave and death".  Parts three to five tell about
Jesus death - with much minor in the tenors singing - and resurrection.
In the Coro in movement nr 5, where the text tell us that the heaven has
intervened and Jesus lives again, a joy, that in no way stands back for the
joy exclaimed at Boris death in Mussorgskijs opera, breaks out as the music
goes from minor to major.  The rest three parts are songs of praise, and of
course a mighty chor ends the cantata.  Interesting dissonances before the
tenore solo.

The Christmascantata nr.3 (from 1836) is set to text by B.S.Ingemann, who
apparently was a poet Weyse liked, and thats at least what he choosed when
he for once composed a cantata without having been asked to do it.  It
opens with a triumphant orchestral interlude which is orchestrated like if
it had been written much earlier than 1836 - it reminds of the thriuphant
chor in Naumanns Gustav Wasa from 1786, which also sound oldage in that
part of the orchestration, but much didn't seem to have happened since
Haendel....  The first chor "Jubler, o jubler i salige Toner" ("Rejoicing,
and rejoicing in blessed Tunes"), is written for the full chor and the
whole orchestra.  The rejoicing character is dominating, but small tonal
contrasts are to be heard where the text goes: "...hoer det o afgrund och
sjelv" (Hear it abyss [probably it is meant to be the hell] and tremble").
After this powerful setting of the chor, follows a lyric terzetto which
really is "Friede auf Erden"; From Inferno to Paradise!  Only some strings
and to times a solo cello accompaignates this "lobgesang sur l'Enfant
Jesus"!  The third movement consists of the melody "Vor Gud han er saa fast
en borg" which in German is "Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott", and is the
reformation melody that actually Martin Luther himself wrote, and which
also Felix Mendelssohn later used in his 5th "Reformation" Symphony.  Weyse
has used fully four trombones for this part, which give the movement its
cedrtain fancy colour.  It seems as Weyse, like Gustav Holst in his
Planets-suite, wanted to give all the movements their own mood, character
and personality.  So is the first mighty and powerful, the second is lyric,
the thire is solemn, and the fourth here is pastoral where beautiful
polyphony arises with soprano and tenor singing simultaneously.  The fifth
so is a broad maestoso with trombones and harp accompaigment.  The fifth
movement has ABA form and the choral B part is the peak of the whole work.
The sixth movement sounds uninspired and is the weak part of the work.
Finally there comes a great fugue, in a style that reminds of Haendel, in
wawes of powerful outbursts between calmer valleys, and such a valley ends
the work so the calm lyric joy is the last the audience will hear in this
cantata.

The music makes respirations in the first choir in the Christmas cantata,
for example before the phrase "Hoere det Jordens och Himmenlens Zoner", and
while talking about taking the rests: perhaps these rests, which seems to
be written without fermata, should not be taken fully out, as it causes
too long breaks in the music, which should be more fluent, just with short
"breathing"-pauses.  And the music cannot be played quicker here.  The chor
is too loud: there are strings lying over the chor and the rest of the
orchestra, giving the music polyphonal character, but the strings are
almost completely overpowered, and just chime in here and there.  In
the chorale the chor is no longer so overpowering and the for the part
important brass come out and paint the music with a fancy colour.  The
duetto is well sung by the tenor and the soprano, but also here balance
problems figure; the soprano overpowers the tenor, who sings to quietly.
In the quintetto the brass has a dominant role, and plays powerfully,
though not so powerful that the harp is not heard in the lower registers,
so so long just fine.  In the coro wonderful harmony is reached, with
sudden outburst in dramtic passages in the text, which are just so strong
it feels controlled and balanced and gives a very dramatic, but not wild,
touch to the context.  What might be just correct as a story about the
Jesuschild may be effective but not wild.  Fine balance is also to be found
in the quartetto.  The final chor starts like the introduction, also here
with slavically following the long pauses, which also here gives a slight
impression of lack of power, but the fugue is skillfully taken, and its
fluctuating between piano and forte causes tenses from the sensetive chor
and the whole final feels full of life.  The orchestra dynamics is very
fine throughout the whole piece, and the performers succeeds giving the
different part their own special character and fashion.

The Eastercantata starts as usual in Weysecantatas with a triumphant coro
in fugue with strings in the top, the chor in the middle and the brass and
low strings in the bottom, all playing their own melody, sucessfully I'd
say.  The orchestra comes out clearly and many instruments are heard in
their different figures, which tell how rich the orchestral web actually
is.  It is not always heard behing the mighty chors, which is the places
where Weyse uses the full orchestra, but these music is certainly not a
lazy mans works.  In the terzetto the musicians sounds so happy when they
sing about the Jesuschilds which apparently is to be heard.  The dissonant
strings foretell that something horrible is to come, but the tenor somehow
doesn't successfully come out with his message that the guy [Jesus] is
dead.  I believe it is a honest attempt, but he is just not enough actor
to do it better.  On the other hand: in the quintetto both the sopranos
sings, and I don't know who is who, but at least one of them (the highest
voice) has indeed a splendid sence for the dramatic.  And without such
singing these cantatas would indeed fall flat.  Weyse has a dramatic sence
himself, and so has his music, if it is well performed.  The following
coro is perhaps the performances peak in quality: the choir combines
harmonically with the brass, and the result is indeed stunning.  The text
goes "Den stjerneloese Nat inhylder Jorden" ("The starless night embraces
the Earth").  Fancy that!  The corale is somewhat impersonally taken, the
quartetto is just nice, and here the tenor shows he can at least sing with
wit.  The triumphal final chor eventually sets in, and also here the
orchestra is overshining the singers, with active trumpets and all.  The
orchestra playing is nuanced and sensetive throughoutthe piece, and when
the singersa do their best the result is very good.  The chor and orhcestra
don't success to intertwine at all places, still the overall result is not
to reject.

Sound is generally good without drawing the attention to itself.
In the eastercantata the orchestra sound clear, but the chor sounds a
little distant.  All in all this is fine music.  More old aged than the
protoromantic symphonies, but the cantatas are carefully constructed with
wit and love, and the performers to greatest part sound as proud over the
music as they should be.

Mats Norrman
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