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Antonín BROSSMANN (1731 - 1798): "Missa in a, Oratorium breve"

Czech Ensemble Baroque
Dir: Roman Válek

rec: [n.d., n.p.]
Arta - F10272 (© 2021) (46'45")
Liner-notes: D/CZ; lyrics - translations: CZ
Cover & track-list
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Missa in a minora; Oratorium breveb

soloists: Pavla Radostováa, Romana Kružíkováb, soprano; Lucie Netušilová Karafiátová, contraltoa; Matej Benda, altob; Jakub Kubín, tenora; Jiří Miroslav Procházka, bassa

In 2019 I reviewed a disc with music by Antonín Brossmann, a composer I had never heard of. The disc was rather short (less than 40 minutes) and offered too little opportunity to assess the quality of his oeuvre. A few years later a second disc with music by Brossmann was released, and this is a substantial addition to what I had heard. The problem with this release is that the liner-notes are only in Czech and German; the latter is no problem for those who understand the language, but is a major obstacle to make Brossmann's oeuvre accessible to a wider audience. It does not help that the lyrics are only translated into Czech. That is no problem as far as the mass is concerned, but the text of the oratorio will remain a mystery to most music lovers.

Let's have first a look at the biography of Brossmann. He was of Czech-German descent and was born in Fulnek in Moravia. There he received lessons at the violin and the cello from the choirmaster of the Augustinian monastery. In 1749 he entered the Piarist college in Lipník nad Bečvou. After completing his studies, he worked for most of his life at the seminary at Bílá Voda, but now and then he was active elsewhere, for instance in Kremsier (Kroměříž). He came in close contact with Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, who worked as Kapellmeister to Count Philipp Gotthard von Schaffgotsch, Prince-Bishop of Breslau (Wrocław), who lived in exile in the castle of Johannisberg (Jánský Vrch), near Jauernig (Javorník). His duties left Brossmann little time for composing. Even so, he left a considerable oeuvre, of which only sacred works have survived. His compositions for the stage as well as several treatises, for instance on singing, conducting and composition, are lost.

The two works on this disc are good specimens of his oeuvre. The Mass in a minor has the usual sections. As is so often the case in masses, the Christe eleison is set for solo voices. In the Gloria and Credo episodes for tutti and soli alternate; the latter are mostly integrated into the polyphonic fabric. In the Credo the sections on the incarnation and crucifixion are singled out in that they are allocated to solo voices: the former first for soprano, then for alto, the latter for soprano and tenor. In both cases the voices are accompanied by two violins and basso continuo. Notable in this mass is that the instrumental scoring includes two viola parts. The Benedictus opens with a lengthy episode for obbligato organ and strings. Halfway the soprano enters, and the Osanna is scored for the tutti. The main feature of the Agnus Dei are the modulations, from A minor via C sharp major and F sharp minor to A major.

The Oratorium breve, whose year of composition is not known, has been preserved in a copy found at the parish church of Frýdek Místek. The title is exactly what this work is: short. It is a Passion oratorio or rather, to use the correct title, a Musica pro sacro sepulchro. According to New Grove a sepulchro or sepolcro is "[a] 17th-century genre of sacred dramatic music in Italian related to the oratorio and performed on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday at the Habsburg court chapels in Vienna." In Vienna it was abandoned after 1705, but this work by Brossmann shows that it was continued (or copied) elsewhere. The liner-notes don't mention where it may have been performed. It is different in that it is not in Italian, but in Latin. The liner-notes say that the text is bilingual. This could cause some misunderstanding. It is not that here episodes in Latin alternate with passages in Czech (like some operas performed in Hamburg, with recitatives in German and arias in Italian). It is rather that the entire work can be performed in Latin or in Czech. Here the Latin text is performed.

The scoring is for two solo voices (soprano, alto), choir and orchestra. It opens with a chorus on a text from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, also known as one of the Tenebrae Responsories: "O vos omnes, qui transitis per viam". This is followed by a recitative for soprano; it is an accompagnato, which lends it a dramatic character. In the liner-notes it is mentioned that Brossmann purchased music by Hasse and Carl Heinrich Graun, and this gives us a pretty good idea of the style of the arias in this work. The first is for soprano, the second for alto. Both are operatic in character. Both are still dacapo arias, but stylistically they move away from the baroque idiom and point in the direction of the classical style. In both arias the soloists add a cadenza. The two arias are followed by a duet, whose text refers to Psalm 50 (51), Miserere mei Deus, one of the penitential psalms sung during Lent. The work closes with a chorus: "We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. Because by your cross you have redeemed the world, have mercy on us." The last section is a fugue.

When I heard Brossmann's music for the first name, I did not know what to make of it. In fact, I was rather sceptical about its quality. This disc has changed my opinion. The mass is a nice work, and I consider especially the sepolcro a worthwhile addition to the repertoire for Passiontide, even though it is rather short. It is certainly expressive, and that makes it all the more regrettable that the booklet does not include an English translation of the lyrics. With the help of Google Translate one may get at least some idea of what it is about.

The performances deserve nothing but praise. Choir and orchestra are excellent, and members of the choir prove to be fine performers in the solo parts. Soprano Pavla Radostová and contralto Lucie Netušilová take some of the main parts in the mass; Romana Kružíková and Matej Benda are impressive in their interpretation of the solo parts in the oratorio.

This disc has made me wanting to hear more of Brossmann's oeuvre. I hope that other parts of his output are going to be recorded, and with more extensive documentation. Brossmann deserves it.

Johan van Veen (© 2025)

Relevant links:

Czech Ensemble Baroque


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