Jan Dismas Zelenka: I Penitenti al Sepolcro del Redentore

The foremost representative of Bohemian/Czech music of the high Baroque era, Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679 – 1745), was the first Czech composer of oratorios. For the feast of Good Friday in 1736, his Dresden employer commissioned from Zelenka a new composition. However, it eventually failed to be performed on its destined occasion – most likely as it did not present the usual setting of the text of one of the Gospels, but rather, of a highly exalted lyrical poem centered around the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice. This departure from the canonized Biblical treatment does not in the least diminish the work’s musical virtues, which are indeed enormous. Here, the Cappella regia musicalis, an ensemble specializing in early music, under the artistic directionof Robert Hugo, and featuring Magdalena Kožená as Mary Magdalene, constituted a team that guaranteed an exquisite outcome of this Zelenka project. The digital recording was made in the Church of St Francis, at Prague’s Convent of Saint Agnes.

Magdalena Kožená excells in a Zelenka oratorio.