Reinhard Keiser (1674-1739) - Der hochmütige gestürtzte und wieder erhabene Croesus (1710)

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Reinhard Keiser! 🎭🥂 Composer: Reinhard Keiser (1674-1739) Work: Ausschnitte aus ’Der hochmütige gestürtzte und wieder erhabene Croesus’ (1710) Performers: Lisa Otto (1919-2013, soprano); Ursula Schirrmacher (soprano); Manfred Schmidt (tenor); Karl-Ernst Mercker (tenor); Hermann Prey (1929-1998, baritone); Theo Adam (1926-2019, bass); Günther Arndt-Chor; Ein Kinderchor; Die Berliner Philharmoniker; Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg (1906-1985, conductor) Croesus (1710) 1. Ouverture 0:00 2. Chor 7:09 3. Ritornello 9:30 4. Tanzlied 11:10 5. Rezitativ 13:23 6. Arie 14:51 7. Ballet 16:50 8. Duett 17:51 9. Arie 19:57 10. Szene 21:56 Painting: Stephan Kessler (1622-1700) - Allegory of the rich man and poor Lazarus. HD image: Further info: Listen free: --- Reinhard (Cesare, Rinardo) Keiser (Teuchern, 9 January 1674 - Hamburg, 12 September 1739) German composer. He was the son of Gottfried Keiser (? - before 1732), an organist and composer, and Agnesa Dorothea von Etzdorff (1657-1732), who had married only four months before his birth. He attended the Thomas School in Leipzig and about 1697 settled in Hamburg. His nearly 70 operas, which span the period 1694 to 1734, include Octavia (1705); Der angenehme Betrug, with arias by Christoph Graupner (1707, revived 1931; “The Pleasant Deception”); Croesus (c. 1711; revised 1730); and the comic opera Der lächerliche Printz Jodelet (1726; “The Laughable Prince Jodelet”). With his colleagues Johann Mattheson and G.P. Telemann, Keiser attempted to establish a distinctively German form of Baroque opera. His early stage works were entirely in German, but Italian arias crept into his later operas under the influence of the increasingly popular Neapolitan school. In his last, Circe (1734), there were 21 German arias and 23 Italian arias, some written by Leonardo Leo, Johann Adolf Hasse, and George Frideric Handel. Keiser’s works show French influence in their ballet scenes. Unlike the Neapolitan operas, but like those of the earlier Venetian style, they show much flexibility in the treatment of the aria and a great concern for the close relationship between music and text. He held his dominant position until the onslaught of the more stereotyped Neapolitan opera was too strong. He became cantor and canon of the Hamburg cathedral in 1728 and saw, in 1738, the closing of the Hamburg opera. In his later years he turned to church music written in a more severe style, including motets, cantatas, and operatic oratorios. His style influenced both Johann Sebastian Bach and especially Handel, who borrowed extensively from his works.