This CD marks the recording premiere of four cantatas by Gottfried August
Homilius for Advent and Christmas. Homilius was the number-one composer of
Protestant church music during the second half of the eighteenth century
and during his lifetime was regarded as »perhaps today’s very best church
composer.« After his death the lexicographer Ernst Ludwig Gerber expressed
the view that he was »without contradiction our greatest church composer.«
Homilius’ music already displays elements of early Classicism and the
sensibility of the empfindsamer Stil, his cantata choruses are frequently
homophonic and songlike in design, and polyphonic sections are rather rare.
His cantatas composed around 1776 prove to be works of individual design
and conception and attest to his mastery as a composer. Arias of great
tonal beauty, the naturalness of their expression, and the dramatic
suspense of the various numbers continue to fascinate listening audiences
even today!