Author Description

Jan Dismas Zelenka's Missa Dei Filii is the second of three transmitted Missae ultimae, but consists, like other short masses of the 18th century, solely of a Kyrie and Gloria. Nevertheless, it is an extensive work, and the lengthy, multi-part Gloria is considered as the most impressive Gloria setting that Zelenka created in his over 20 masses. (What remains to be answered is whether Zelenka had originally planned to compose a complete mass).Matthias Grünert's piano vocal score is based on the critical edition of the score edited by Paul Horn in volume 100 of the Erbe Deutscher Musik, in which the gaps in the musical text found in the autograph towards the end of the Gloria were cautiously supplemented."Zelenka's artistic personality, his biography and his compositional style are utterly distinctive. His style is highly experimental. Was Zelenka really one of the greatest composers of the 18th century, or only one of the most interesting? I think that he still has several surprises for us." (Schweizerische Musikzeitung)"Zelenka's Masses - fine specimens of Baroque choral literature, some parts of which are set even more colourfully than in the corresponding compositions by Bach." (Die Welt)