Troll, Roemhildt: Cantatas, Sacred Music in Thuringia

Description

This recording seeks to illuminate a rich yet often overlooked chapter in the musical life of central Germany during the first half of the eighteenth century. Beyond the celebrated figure of Johann Sebastian Bach, Thuringia and its neighbouring regions nurtured a wealth of composers—some renowned in their own day, others subsequently consigned to obscurity—whose works testify to the extraordinary vitality and diversity of the period.

In 1968, during restoration works at the church of Grossfahner—a village situated approximately 20 km north-west of Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia—a cache of some 300 sacred works by composers from central Germany, dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was discovered in a hollow space in the roof, partitioned off by wooden planks. Much of the material had been damaged by exposure to the elements, and in 1969 it was transferred to the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt”, Weimar, for cataloguing and restoration; the collection remains preserved there.
Alongside works by well-known composers such as Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel and Georg Philipp Telemann, the collection chiefly comprises pieces by the so-called “small masters” of Thuringia—relatively obscure figures. Unfortunately, comprehensive biographical information has not been recovered for all the composers represented. For the composer designated “Herr Troll”, in addition to the seven cantatas preserved in the Grossfahner/Eschenbergen collection, only one further cantata is known at the University Library of Göttingen and a violin concerto preserved at the University Library of Münster. The composer’s forename is unknown; however, from the title pages of his works—copied in every instance by Johann Christian Starckloff (1655–1722), the copyist and cantor at the church of Eschenbergen from 1681 to 1722—it may be deduced that it begins with “Fr.”

Judging from the few surviving sources, Troll’s idiom is a severe, North-German style with affinities to that of Buxtehude. In the arias he eschews the more modern, Italianate Da capo form, preferring a more traditional durchkomponiert design articulated by brief orchestral ritornellos; he makes no use of recitatives. His music is rich in rhetorical devices—for example, the persistent descending lines in the Christmas cantata Siehe ich verkündige euch, which appear to depict the earthly descent of the incarnate Logos, and the corresponding ascending motions in the Easter cantata Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (the only work whose title page bears a date, 1715), which project the listener towards the Resurrection. These details reveal a secure composer, well schooled in composition, theology, and the precepts of musica poetica.
These cantatas require a single bass soloist who appears in every movement. It is uncommon to encounter such extensive forces—including the substantial deployment of multiple trumpets* and timpani—combined with only one solo voice. The trumpets are consistently assigned prominent, concertante and soloistic roles wherever they appear, a detail unusual among composers active in small centres who typically had limited personnel at their disposal (and who could seldom secure trumpeters and timpanists, bound as they were to civic service and generally reserved in larger towns for major feast-day worship). In both cantatas there is even an aria with three trumpets, timpani and continuo—an exceptional scoring that invites comparison with other rare jewels of the great repertory, such as the aria “Heiligste Dreieinigkeit, großer Gott” in J. S. Bach’s Cantata BWV 172 and Telemann’s Cantata Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt, TWV 7:22.

Johann Theodor Roemhildt (Salzungen, 23 September 1684 – Merseburg, 26 October 1756) was a German Baroque composer. Born in Salzungen, Thuringia, near Eisenach, he was the son of a preacher. From childhood he received a thorough musical education, studying first at Ruhla with Johann Jacob Bach (1655–1718), a member of the Meiningen branch of the Bach family. Like many musician-colleagues he subsequently entered the Thomasschule in Leipzig, receiving solid musical training under the Thomaskantors Johann Schelle and Johann Kuhnau; among his fellow students were Johann David Heinichen and Christoph Graupner. From 1705 he pursued studies at the University of Leipzig.
In 1708 he obtained his first official post as cantor at Spremberg, where in 1714 he was promoted to rector and chapel director. In 1715 he became cantor and director of music at Freystadt in Silesia (now Kożuchów, Poland), returning in 1726 to Spremberg, at the court of Duke Heinrich. When the latter acceded as Duke of Saxony-Merseburg in 1731 and moved to the new seat of government, Roemhildt followed to Merseburg, continuing as Hofkapellmeister. In 1735, upon the death of the court organist Georg Friedrich Kauffmann, Roemhildt also assumed the post of organist of the cathedral, which he held until his death.
He died on 26 October 1756 at six in the evening, aged 72, following an apoplectic stroke. The Merseburg church register records:

“On 26 October 1756, at half past six in the evening, the honoured Mr Johann Theodor Roemhildt, formerly esteemed Kapellmeister of the Principal Court of Saxony-Merseburg, and organist of the Collegiate Church and the Cathedral, peacefully and happily departed this life at the age of 73, and was buried in the adjoining cemetery.”

Two hundred and thirty-six sacred cantatas survive, of which fifty are solo cantatas; among his major works is also a St Matthew Passion. Curiously, many compositions circulated under the anagrammatic pseudonym “Mi(e)lorth”. Roemhildt’s cantatas—often characterised by brilliant parts for trumpets and horns—are today of significant interest to scholars of the Baroque brass repertory.
In comparison with his more celebrated contemporary Johann Sebastian Bach (born in Eisenach in 1685 and deceased in Leipzig in 1750), Roemhildt probably enjoyed wider dissemination in his own lifetime—as evidenced, for example, by the performance of over one hundred of his cantatas at Danzig during his life. Moreover, annotations on scores preserved at Mücheln indicate that at least there the performance tradition of his works continued into the 1790s.
His oeuvre nevertheless fell largely into oblivion with posterity. Only recently, thanks to the work of the Roemhildt-Gesellschaft Bochum e.V.—and especially of scholars such as C. Ahrens and K. Langrock—a systematic rediscovery has been initiated. A detailed catalogue of works (RoemV) has been compiled, and a website dedicated to the composer (www.mielorth.de) now serves as a reference point for research and dissemination.
Roemhildt’s style is readily aligned with the gemischter Stil—the “mixed style” cultivated by German composers in the High Baroque, which judiciously combines Italian elements with those of French derivation. His music shows explicit debts to his last teacher, Johann Kuhnau, and to the more fashionable, “theatrical” forms of his day, notably the Da capo aria.
Cantata Herr Jesu, deiner trost ich mich, RoemV 129 — This work is very brief, like other solo cantatas by the composer, and adopts the simple alternation Aria – Recitative – Aria. The manuscript, formerly held in the choir archive at Mügeln (Saxony) under the shelfmark Mus. Ant. 225, is today lost; fortunately, a photocopy preserved by Klaus Langrock (a musicologist specialising in Roemhildt) has enabled the recovery and recording of the cantata.
Cantata Herr wie groß ist deine Güte, RoemV 201 — This is a more extensive cantata, scored for full orchestral forces with tenor soloist, choir, 3 trumpets, timpani, recorder, 2 violins, viola, and basso continuo. The score and the manuscript parts are complete and perfectly preserved at the Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden (D-Dl): Mus.2402-E-506.

The flute concerto—originally conceived for violin—is cast in three movements and displays a lively style under strong Italian influence. The copyist’s hand is that of Johann Georg Pisendel (Cadolzburg, 1687 – Dresden, 1755), one of the most influential violinists of his generation and himself a distinguished composer of concertos.
The manuscript is notated alla tedesca: the sheet is set vertically and without pre-ruled staves. It is preserved in the Königliche Privat-Musikaliensammlung in Dresden, under the shelfmark D-Dl, Mus.2-O-1,56.
Although the concerto’s idiom reveals pronounced Italian influences, its parentage is more closely aligned with the German sphere and lies not far in taste from the concertos of Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar and certain concerti all’italiana by Telemann. Complete exclusion of Pisendel’s authorship cannot be assured; however, comparison with works of secure attribution shows marked differences in the handling of soloistic episodes—here more cantabile and linear, as opposed to the highly virtuosic and idiomatic character of Pisendel’s authenticated works.
The concerto betrays several unmistakable Vivaldian features: prominent orchestral unisons and the frequent deployment of violin bassetto technique in the solo passages. Despite these stylistic resonances, the work remains without secure attribution. Nevertheless, the music delineates the figure of a brilliant and experienced composer.

Johann Gottfried Walther (Erfurt, 18 September 1684 – Leipzig, 23 March 1748) was a German composer, organist, theorist, and musicologist, celebrated above all as one of the earliest significant compilers of a musical dictionary. A cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach, he enjoyed with him a profound bond of friendship and artistic collaboration.
Walther devoted himself from an early age to the study of music, specialising in the organ. In 1707 he was appointed to the prestigious post of organist at the Stadtkirche in Weimar, a position he retained for life. His renown rests primarily upon the Musicalisches Lexicon (Weimar, 1732), one of the earliest encyclopaedic dictionaries of music in the German language, containing definitions of terms, biographies of composers, and descriptions of instruments and techniques. This work proved an essential resource for musicians and scholars, representing a decisive step in the systematisation of musical knowledge during the eighteenth century.
As a composer, Walther focused predominantly on keyboard music, writing preludes, fugues, and chorale settings for organ that reflect the Baroque idiom, under the influence of masters such as Dieterich Buxtehude and, naturally, his own cousin Bach. He died in Leipzig on 23 March 1748, leaving a lasting legacy not only as a composer and performer but also as a pioneer of musicology and the systematic cataloguing of musical knowledge in the Baroque age.

Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow (Leipzig, 6 November 1663 – Halle, 7 October 1712) revealed musical talent from an early age and pursued studies in organ and composition. In 1684 he was appointed organist and Kapellmeister of the church of St Mary in Halle, a post he held until his death.
Throughout his career Zachow composed numerous sacred works—including cantatas, oratorios, and choral music—characterised by a rich and refined Baroque style. His idiom reflects the influence of composers such as Johann Schelle and Dieterich Buxtehude.
Zachow is most renowned for having taught the young Georg Friedrich Händel, whose formative years under Zachow’s guidance profoundly influenced his development into one of the central figures of the Baroque. Zachow died in Halle on 7 October 1712.

Taken together, these works allow us to hear again voices long silenced in archives and libraries. They offer not only insights into the stylistic currents of early eighteenth-century Thuringia but also a vivid reminder of the wider network of composers and traditions that animated central Germany in Bach’s lifetime. This recording aspires to restore to the living repertoire music that once shaped worship and culture in its time, and which today regains its resonance after centuries of silence.

* In the manuscripts, the trumpet parts are designated as clarini.