Stimmwerck

Stimmwerck is a male classical music vocal quartet ensemble specializing in the rediscovery and reproduction of the music of little known renaissance composers of the German-speaking world.

Stimmwerck, with, from left to right, Franz Vitzthum, counter-tenor; Marcus Schmidl, bass; Gerhard Hölzle and Klaus Wenk, tenors.

History

Stimmwerck was founded in Munich, Germany in 2001, by four specialists in classical vocal ensemble singing; the two tenors, Gerhard Hölzle and Klaus Wenk, bass singer Marcus Schmidl, and counter tenor Franz Vitzthum.

Purpose

Their name reflects the ensemble's structure and purpose. "Stimmwerck" comes from a 16th-century German term often used (for example, by Michael Praetorius) for a group of instruments of the same type but of different ranges, similar to the English term "consort of instruments". Thus, the ensemble is a “Stimmwerck” of classically trained male voices in varying ranges, attuned to one another in skill.

The focus of their work together is the bringing of forgotten or less well known renaissance composers of early music in the German-speaking regions once again into public recognition. To achieve this, they collaborate extensively with musicologists such as Ian Rumbold, Inga Mai Groote, and Katelijne Schiltz and actively engage in research.[1][2] The results take form as recordings, public performance in concerts, on tour and at early music festivals, and as their own 3-day annual festival in August, the Stimmwercktage, on the Adlersberg near Regensburg, Germany, which is broadcast each year by Bayerischer Rundfunk.[3]

Recordings

Stimmwerck records with Christophorus Records, Aeolus and Cavalli Records, among others, and has received praise for their work from the critical press.[4] Their first compact disks, with works by Heinrich Finck (1445–1527), and Adam of Fulda (1444–1505), each received the highest possible rating of 5 stars in “Goldberg Magazine”.[5]

Discography
  • Heinrich Finck (1444–1527): Missa Dominicalis und Lieder (Cavalli Records), 2006*[6]
  • Adam von Fulda (ca. 1445–1505): Messe - Motetten - Lieder (Cavalli Records), 2007
  • Musik in St Michael, Vol 3, (DD Medien, Inigomedien), 2007
  • The St. Emmeram Codex (Aeolus (Note 1) ), 2008 - Their most recently released recording covers a late medieval repertoire taken from the Regensburg Codex St. Emmeram, and received praise from the musical press for the quality and importance of the music chosen as well as for the singing performances.
  • Lassus, Gyri Gyri Gaga - Lust und Leben. with the instrumental ensemble “La Villanella Basel”. Christophorus Records 2010
  • Leonhard Päminger, Sacred works . Christophorus Records 2011
  • Susanne un jour - Lassus, Missa Susanne un jour and other works. Aeolus Records 2012

Live performance

Stimmwerck give concerts both in Germany and abroad. They have been featured guests at

  • Laus Polyphoniae Antwerp
  • Bach Festival Leipzig
  • Vienna’s “Resonanzen” Festival of early music.

Festival: Stimmwercktage – Stimmwerck Days

Since 2005, the ensemble holds an annual festival in early August named the “Stimmwercktage” (Stimmwerck Days) on the Adlersberg near Regensburg. There, using such modern technology as laptops and projectors in place of paper manuscripts, the works of a particular renaissance composer are the subject of German language lectures by musicologists and performances by Stimmwerck.

In previous years, works by the following composers were examined:

gollark: If you claim to care about something, but then mostly just ignore it, that's not exactly very meaningfully "caring".
gollark: I mean, yes, people care abstractly. If you ask them "hey, are you unhappy about some poverty-stricken countries being poverty-stricken" they'll say yes. But people do not actually practically care enough to do anything.
gollark: You STILL haven't demonstrated anything being basic.
gollark: It's like with, say, random poverty-stricken countries. They could probably have quite a lot of their problems solved if people actually cared very much. But they don't, because moral obligation actually drops off according to the inverse-square law.
gollark: High compared to what?

Videos

References
  1. "Medieval Music brought back to life", News article December 12, 2008, University of Nottingham
  2. Hermann Pötzlinger's Music Book,The St Emmeram Codex and its Contexts, by Ian Rumbold with Peter Wright (2009) ISBN 978-1-84383-463-2
  3. Stimmwercktage broadcast listing in Bavarian Public Radio, 2008
  4. Trendell, David, European Renaissance: Early Music - Volume 34, Number 2, May 2006, pp. 317-318, Oxford University Press
  5. Goldberg Magazine Online Review of Heinrich Finck - Missa Dominicalis Archived 2007-05-22 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Music Web International review of Heinrich Finck - Missa Dominicalis and Goldberg Magazine Online Review of Heinrich Finck - Missa Dominicalis Archived 2007-05-22 at the Wayback Machine
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