Stimmwerck
Encyclopedia
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
vocal quartet ensemble specializing in the rediscovery and reproduction of the music of little known renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
composers of the German-speaking world.
History
Stimmwerck was founded in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany in 2001, by four specialists in classical vocal ensemble singing; the two tenors, Gerhard Hölzle and Klaus Wenk, bass
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
singer Marcus Schmidl, and counter tenor Franz Vitzthum.
Purpose
Their name reflects the ensemble's structure and purpose. "Stimmwerck" comes from a 16th century German term often used (for example, by Michael PraetoriusMichael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...
) for a group of instruments of the same type but of different ranges, similar to the English term "consort of instruments
Consort of instruments
A consort of instruments was a phrase used in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to indicate an instrumental ensemble. These could be of the same or a variety of instruments. Consort music enjoyed considerable popularity at court and in households of the wealthy in the...
". Thus, the ensemble is a “Stimmwerck” of classically trained male voices in varying ranges, attuned to one another in skill.
The focus of their work together is the bringing of forgotten or less well known renaissance composers of early music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
in the German speaking regions once again into public recognition. To achieve this, they collaborate extensively with musicologists such as Ian Rumbold, Inga Mai Groote, and Katelijne Schiltz and actively engage in research. The results take form as recordings, public performance in concerts, on tour and at early music festivals, and as their own 3-day annual festival in August, the Stimmwercktage, on the Adlersberg near Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
, Germany, which is broadcast each year by Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk [Bavarian Broadcasting] is the public broadcasting authority for the German Freistaat of Bavaria, with its main offices located in Munich. BR is a member of ARD.- Legal foundation :...
.
Recordings
Stimmwerck records with Christophorus RecordsChristophorus Records
Christophorus Records is a German classical music label based originally in Freiburg specializing in Catholic church and early music.The history of the Herder family in publishing in Freiburg goes back to Bartholomä Herder Fürstbischöflicher Hofbuchhändler und Hofbuchdrucker in 1801...
, Aeolus and Cavalli Records, among others, and has received praise for their work from the critical press. Their first compact disks, with works by Heinrich Finck
Heinrich Finck
Heinrich Finck was a German composer.He was probably born at Bamberg, but nothing is certainly known either of the place or date of his birth. Between 1492 and 1506 he was a musician in, and later possibly conductor of the court orchestra of successive kings of Poland at Warsaw...
(1445–1527), and Adam of Fulda
Adam of Fulda
Adam of Fulda was a German musical author of the second half of the 15th century. He was born in Fulda and died in Wittenberg....
(1444–1505), each received the highest possible rating of 5 stars in “Goldberg Magazine”.
Discography
- Heinrich FinckHeinrich FinckHeinrich Finck was a German composer.He was probably born at Bamberg, but nothing is certainly known either of the place or date of his birth. Between 1492 and 1506 he was a musician in, and later possibly conductor of the court orchestra of successive kings of Poland at Warsaw...
(1444–1527): Missa Dominicalis und Lieder (Cavalli Records), 2006* - Adam von Fulda (ca. 1445–1505): Messe - Motetten - Lieder (Cavalli Records), 2007
- Musik in St Michael, Vol 3, (DD Medien, Inigomedien), 2007
- The St. Emmeram Codex (Aeolus (Note 1) ), 2008 - Their most recently released recording covers a late medieval repertoire taken from the Regensburg Codex St. Emmeram, and received praise from the musical press for the quality and importance of the music chosen as well as for the singing performances.
- Lassus, Gyri Gyri Gaga - Lust und Leben. with the instrumental ensemble “La Villanella Basel”. Christophorus RecordsChristophorus RecordsChristophorus Records is a German classical music label based originally in Freiburg specializing in Catholic church and early music.The history of the Herder family in publishing in Freiburg goes back to Bartholomä Herder Fürstbischöflicher Hofbuchhändler und Hofbuchdrucker in 1801...
2010 - Leonhard PämingerLeonhard PämingerLeonhard Päminger was an Upper-Austrian born Lutheran theologian, poet and composer in Catholic Bavaria....
, Sacred works . Christophorus RecordsChristophorus RecordsChristophorus Records is a German classical music label based originally in Freiburg specializing in Catholic church and early music.The history of the Herder family in publishing in Freiburg goes back to Bartholomä Herder Fürstbischöflicher Hofbuchhändler und Hofbuchdrucker in 1801...
2011
Live performance
Stimmwerck give concerts both in Germany and abroad. They have been featured guests at- Laus PolyphoniaeLaus PolyphoniaeLaus Polyphoniae is the summer edition of the Festival van Vlaanderen -Antwerp. Since 1994 this early music and polyphony festival takes place in the last weeks of August.Every edition has its central theme or compositor...
Antwerp - Bach Festival Leipzig
- Vienna’s “Resonanzen” Festival of early music.
Festival: Stimmwercktage – Stimmwerck Days
Since 2005, the ensemble holds an annual festival in early August named the “Stimmwercktage” (Stimmwerck Days) on the Adlersberg near Regensburg. There, using such modern technology as laptops and projectors in place of paper manuscripts, the works of a particular renaissance composer are the subject of German language lectures by musicologists and performances by Stimmwerck.In previous years, works by the following composers were examined:
- 2008 Ludwig SenflLudwig SenflLudwig Senfl was a Swiss composer of the Renaissance, active in Germany. He was the most famous pupil of Heinrich Isaac, was music director to the court of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, and was an influential figure in the development of the Franco-Flemish polyphonic style in...
(1486-1542/43) - 2007 AnonymusAnonymusAnonymus is the Latin spelling of anonymous. This Latin spelling, however, is traditionally used by scholars in the humanities to refer to any ancient writer whose name is not known, or to a manuscript of their work...
- 2006 Leonhard LechnerLeonhard LechnerLeonard Lechner was a German composer and music editor who worked with Orlando de Lassus.-Life:Lechner's exact place of birth is unknown. The by-name he occasionally used, "Athesinus", refers to origins in the Adige Valley in what is now the Italian province of South Tyrol....
(c.1553-1606) - 2005 Jacob ObrechtJacob ObrechtJacob Obrecht was a Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was the most famous composer of masses in Europe in the late 15th century, being eclipsed by only Josquin des Prez after his death.-Life:...
(1457/1458 – late July, 1505)