Hüpft, ihr wollenreichen Herden


  • Recorded: July 2014
  • Record Place: Jičín Chateau
  • First Release: 2015
  • (P) 2015 SUPRAPHON a.s.
  • Genre: Vocal - songs

Artists

  • music by: Jiří Antonín Benda
  • soprano: Ivana Bilej Brouková
  • harpsichord: Edita Keglerová
  • cello: Marek Štryncl

Album

Edita Keglerová, Ivana Bilej Brouková, Helena Zemanová

Benda: Sonatas, Sonatinas, Songs. Music from Eighteenth-Century Prague

Catalogue Number: SU 4184-2
Published: 15th May 2015
Genre: Vocal - songs
Format: 1 CD
Jiří Antonín Benda (1722-1795) - Sammlung vermischter Clavier- und Gesangstücke für geübte und ungeübte Spieler (Collection of Various Keyboard and Vocal Pieces for Trained and Untrained Players) - selection

Edita Keglerová - harpsichord, Ivana Bilej Brouková - soprano, Helena Zemanová - violin, Hana Fleková, Marek Štryncl - cello

Jiří Antonín Benda spent his prime years at King Friedrich II's court orchestra in Berlin and serving as court Kapellmeister in Gotha, yet his works were an integral part of 18th-century Prague's musical landscape. The Czech capital frequently hosted performances of his singspiels, while prints of his compositions were in high demand too. Benda was best known for his melodramas and singspiels, whose novel and striking forcibility even enthralled the young Mozart ("You know that Benda has always been my favourite Lutheran Kapellmeister," wrote Wolfgang to this father). The greatest impact on Benda's keyboard music was made by his Berlin colleague Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The first of the six volumes of Benda's "Sammlung" was published in 1780. Besides sonatas and sonatinas for "piano" (meaning any keyboard instrument, most frequently the harpsichord), the collection contained arias from church pieces, sonatas for several instruments, and songs. It was an extraordinary success and when it comes to the number of subscribers, it even outstripped C. P. E. Bach's similarly conceived collection of sonatas, which started to be published a year earlier. Benda's music is enchanting in its simplicity, impressive expression, gallantry and wit. The artists who made this recording have immersed themselves in Benda's musical universe and, bringing to bear their ample performing experience, have succeeded in relaying its irresistible charm.

The magic of simplicity. That's Jiří Antonín Benda's music.

Reviews

“Blandness sometimes threatens, even more so in the featherweight sonatinas, though even at his most compliant Benda can trip you up with a disorientating pause, or surprise harmonic twist.“
Gramophone, September 2015

Jiří Antonín Benda
Sonata in F major
1. Allegro assai moderato - Allegro 06:45
2. Andantino un poco larghetto 03:33
3. Allegro 03:50
Jiří Antonín Benda
4. Mit Lauretten, seiner Freude 01:35
Jiří Antonín Benda
5. Sonatina in B flat major. Allegro 01:47
Jiří Antonín Benda
6. Du, kleine, Blondine bezauberst ja schon 01:45
Jiří Antonín Benda
7. Sonatina in F major. Allegro moderato 01:59
Jiří Antonín Benda
8. Mir Armen, den des Fiebers Kraft 00:54
Jiří Antonín Benda
9. Sonatina in D major. Presto 01:18
Jiří Antonín Benda
10. Hüpft, ihr wollenreichen Herden 02:21
Jiří Antonín Benda
Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord in G major
11. Mezzo allegro 06:47
12. Andantino 03:07
13. Allegro 04:30
Jiří Antonín Benda
14. Mein Geliebter hat versprochen 01:40
Jiří Antonín Benda
15. Sonatina in G minor 01:34
Jiří Antonín Benda
16. Romanze: Ein Mädchen, das auf Ehre hielt 02:20
Jiří Antonín Benda
Sonata in C minor
17. Allegro non troppo 04:42
18. Un poco largo 03:13
19. Allegro 03:23
Jiří Antonín Benda
20. Ich liebte nur Ismenen 02:44
Jiří Antonín Benda
21. Sonatina in C major. Allegretto 02:34
Jiří Antonín Benda
22. Heraklit, gleich stumpfen Greisen 02:23
Jiří Antonín Benda
Sonata in F major
23. Allegro ma non troppo 05:08
24. Andante con moto 02:15
25. Allegro 03:27