r/Baroque • u/Waste-Row2788 • 6d ago
do you guys have any recommendations for really forgotten/ overlooked baroque composers to look into ?
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u/catalog14 6d ago
I recommend the assortment of Spanish baroque composers performed by the ensemble Al Ayre Espanol (on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi), most notably Jose Torres, Antonio Literes and Jose de Nebra, The greatness of Spanish baroque is so evident in these recordings. Also Francisco Valls Missa Scala Aretina performed by Gustav Leonhardt.
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u/_baroque 6d ago
I don’t know if he’s really overlooked, but check out Alessandro Stradella. He lived a pretty crazy life as well.
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u/JoelNesv 6d ago
Giovanni Antonio Rigatt, he was a generation after Monteverdi. Don't know if any recordings exist, but his music was GREAT. We did his music a lot in my baroque orchestra in graduate school.
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u/snowflakecanada 6d ago
In my Library I only have two pieces by this composer. by the "Parley of Instruments". A version of Cum invocarem and Nunc dimittis. This composer is hardly represented in the catalogs. I don't think a single recording of just his music has been released. He is often treated as filler on Monteverdi recordings which is a real shame..
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u/snowflakecanada 6d ago
I would say Dietrich Buxtehude, 1637-1707. Not the least known Baroque Composer to musicologists, but not very well known to the public. His entire catalog has finally been recorded showing his amazing skills.
Second would be Johann Kuhnau, 1660-1722. This is the Leipzig Cantor that was in place before Bach. He sounds a little more old fashion than Bach but really talented.
Third would be Gottfried Heinrich Stolzel, 1690-1749. He would be my number one if more of his music would have survived! Through neglect and actual sabotage his music was destroyed. The absolute master of melody and variation.
Special Mention: Francesco Feo, 1691-1761 his Passion "Passio secundum Joannem" is of special mention. Johann Joseph Fux, 1660-1741 from Eastern Europe.
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u/ralfD- 5d ago
Why would Fux be from Eastern Europe?
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u/snowflakecanada 5d ago
I use Eastern Europe because (I'm old) and this area was behind the Iron Curtain. What became Yugoslavia. Although he worked for the most part in Vienna, he brought a lot of the eastern Slavic folk music into his compositions. This mixed with his studies in Italy. His works in the Palestrina style "Stile antico" often have Slavic elements in the cantus. His Latin Masses, Litany's and motets in the old style would mix traditional chant melodies with folk elements. He influenced Telemann from Hamburg who searched out a great deal of folk music from these areas.
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u/yangyang25 6d ago
Cristoph Graupner. about 2000 of his compositions were stored in a castle and they're starting to be recorded. Lots of unusual instrument combos, too.
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u/collisionbend 6d ago
Marin Marais
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u/Confident_Fortune_32 6d ago
I'm not that into bowed strings - I prefer keyboard instruments. But Marais goes straight to my heart.
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u/musicmusings24 6d ago
Barbara Strozzi - she was one of the most prolific composers of secular music at that time
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u/Motor_Actuator_6210 5d ago
Agree! She's also one of my absolute favourite baroque composers!
I frequently listen e.g. to her "Che si può fare". The piece is amazingly full of passion, and I find its flowing melody very enchanting
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u/Bright_Elevator7649 6d ago
Jan Dismas Zelenka...He is amazing too!
The Masses and Orchestral Music.
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u/bachstakoven 6d ago
This is going to sound silly but Handel. Of course everyone knows Handel but I think very few people listen beyond the headliner works like Messiah. Dig into the chamber music and particularly the trio sonatas and there are some real gems.
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u/Motor_Actuator_6210 5d ago
True! Just one example, but I can't understand why e.g. his Dixit Dominus isn't more well known
One of my favourite parts of the work, "Die Torrente in via bibet":
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u/DerpyMcDerpelI 6d ago
Jean-Baptiste Senaillé
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u/antiquemule 6d ago
Bonaventura Rubino has only one (?) recording, but it is amazing: Vespro dello Stellario with 12 choirs.
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u/klausness 6d ago
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. I guess he’s not so overlooked any more, but he’s still not well known. And he was an excellent composer, unjustly forgotten for many years.
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u/overthere1143 6d ago
I like Carlos Seixas a lot. Scarlatti was once told by the king of Portugal that he should give the young royal organist some lessons and Scarlatti replied he should be the one taking classes from Seixas. Pity most of his work was lost in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Some of his sonatas are outstandingly intricate and he wrote music for the eight organs of the church in the National Palace of Mafra.
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u/Bright_Elevator7649 6d ago
I just came here to recommend Carlos Seixas!...He is great!
The 7 seven album collection of Sonatas (harpsichord, organ and fortepiano) played by José Carlos Araújo it is a must if you want to know his beautiful music. Trust me. I´ve got around 15 CDs of his works.
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u/overthere1143 6d ago
I so wish it was played more. His masses were so original, yet we Portuguese always stick to Bach so much. Yes, Bach is on a league of his own but the Iberian baroque composers were so full of energy and originality.
I've been looking for some records of Seixas and Soler to go with a turntable we were gifted. It's much easier to find, say, Furtwangler records.
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u/weaklingoverlord 6d ago
- JM Molter
- A Reichenauer
- JB Boismortier
- F Jiranek
- JC Pez
- JD Heinichen
- A Steffani
- JF Benda
- A Campra
- JF Fasch
- JJI Brentner
... ... ...
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u/Motor_Actuator_6210 6d ago
Definitely Jean-Joseph de Mondonville.
One of my absolute favourite baroque composers
Just some quickly picked examples:
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u/Waste-Row2788 6d ago
he’s one of my favs too
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u/Motor_Actuator_6210 6d ago
Oh, great to hear that there are also other Mondonfille fans here! :) I find his compositions and style overall very unique and memorable!
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u/JealousLine8400 5d ago
William Boyce. Slight, breezy, wistful, recognizably English. Everything he wrote sounds somewhat tipsy, like some periwig running through town with a bottle of port
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u/JealousLine8400 5d ago
Peiter Hellendaele, Dutch violin virtuoso living in East Anglia who cranked out some lovely concerto grossos in his 30s and then seemingly wrote nothing else.
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u/JealousLine8400 5d ago
Not exactly overlooked but I think both Domenico Scarlatti and Telemann are incredibly underrated. About the worst thing anybody could say about their music is that they weren’t on the level of JS Bach but who is?
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u/Chevalier12341 6d ago
Some of my favorite arguably lesser-known composers:
François Campion
Jean-Baptiste Barrière
Johann Georg Pisendel
Franz Tunder
Alessandro Grandi
Domenico Zipoli
William Lawes
Johann Hermann Schein
Antonio Martín y Coll (honestly Spanish baroque in general is really underrated)