Best version of Joseph the II Cantata, WoO 87???

[euphony131]

Hey again!

I wanted to know what people thought were the best versions of the Funeral Cantata of Joseph the II. I have Christian Thielemann conducting with Charlotte Margiono as soprano and WOW! That aria with chorus part where the soprano sings "Da stiegen Die Menschen an's Licht..." (Then mankind rose to the light...") just knocks me out ever time! If ever I needed a soundtrack for my own funeral that would be it.

It's flat-out amazing how mature and sophisticated this work is and B. wrote it when he was only 19!

[Rod]

Originally posted by euphony131:


...It's flat-out amazing how mature and sophisticated this work is and B. wrote it when he was only 19!

Not if Robert Newman has anything to say about it! But about recordings, I've had three of these cantatas but only one of them is still generally available - namely that on the Hyperion lable with Matthew Best and the Corydon Orchestra and Singers. This is a pretty good account, and you get the Opferlied and Meeresstille as 'filler' items.

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[This message has been edited by Rod (edited 05-08-2006).]

[robert newman]

Robert Newman is only asking that other views are allowed a fair hearing - since they definitely exist. And it's been great that a fair hearing has been provided here. In my case I hold the view that Beethoven was a student who worked on this piece, it having been composed (as was the cantata for the accession of Leopold) by the man who would in any event normally have composed such works. The unmentionable Kapellmeister of Bonn - a man who had actually been working in that post longer than Beethoven had been alive.

Given the various other arguments that relate to this cantata (and which we've touched on at some length here previously) I can honestly say I have maintained respect for those who hold different views. To me, these cantatas are works of Luchesi, brought to their final state by young Ludwig van Beethoven, and not works that he (Beethoven) ever claimed to have composed himself. Indeed, the cantata Beethoven wrote at Bonn (the one showed by him in 1790 to Haydn) was neither of these two cantatas but a third , this surviving only in the fragment that is described by Biamonti.

Beethoven's cantata was deemed to be unplayable by not one but several contemporary witnesses. By any fair and reasonable reckoning this says we are wise to keep an open mind on these issues. I do.

Best regards




[This message has been edited by robert newman (edited 05-09-2006).]