Dixit Dominus (ZWV 67) - world premiere recording?

  • Part of my dissertation on the 'Dixit Dominus' settings of Zelenka included editions of two of Zelenka's unpublished 'Dixit Dominus' settings (ZWV 66 & 67). In the spring of 2017 I recorded 'Dixit Dominus' (ZWV 67) with my students at Brookline High School, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. The students in this recording range in age from 14-18 years old. Zelenka likely composed this piece for the Kapelknaben, with the soprano and alto parts sung by the Kapellknaben and the tenor and bass parts sung by men. I believe this is the first recording of this work, which I have linked below. I'm hoping to get my edition of the score published at some point soon.


    http://michaeldriscollconducto…nka_DixitDominusZWV67.mp3


    Best,
    Mike Driscoll
    Boston, MA

  • Hey Mike,


    Thanks for posting this. Congratulations on the very interesting dissertation (already noticed it recently at https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/19581 ) and fantastic work on performing this charming little psalm setting. Sound's really great and I guess you have pipped Inégal to the premier (someone here can correct me if I am wrong, but I think ZWV 67 will appear on disc 4).


    I can't help laughing each time I hear these over-exuberant leaps in the violins of the opening subject. More light has been cast onto Zelenka's sense of humour, surely...


    Did you also perform the Italian Dixit settings that were reworked by Zelenka (also in your dissertation)? Would be great to hear those too.

  • This was really nice to hear - thanks for all your work Mike. I enjoyed reading your dissertation too.


    I would love to hear Antonín Sehling's version of this, held in Prague Castle & Cathedral Archives. He includes 2 clarino (trumpets), tuned in C. According to Mike's dissertation, Sehling made a few tweaks to the orchestration too (probably to make it suitable for Prague Cathedral).


    I've contacted Ensemble Inégal regarding this (and a few other suggestions mentioned by others here in the forum), in the hope that they'd want to make their disc even more colourful than it already will be. I discussed this possibility with Andrew Frampton who suggested that, if they did want to include it, they should only have it in an appendix / extra track, because it wasn't Zelenka's original piece, which was designed for the Dresden Court Church.


    But, it wouldn't be the only piece that has a source from Prague Cathedral however, the biggest one of course is the wonderful Laetatus Sum ZWV90, copied by Antonín Görbig, who was the Cathedral's kapellmeister. The *only* extant copy of this long, virtuosic work is found in Prague. It will be a beautiful shining gem to finish off Inégal's recording series of the Psalm cycles.

  • Yes, I did record Zelenka's arrangement of the Ingegnieri 'Dixit Dominus' as well. I think in the insanity of finishing up my dissertation and working several jobs, I forgot to publicize it! It's on my high school choir's YouTube Channel:
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugatfFLiKr0UbxcyGyQSjw


    I've also just created a 'Zelenka' page on my website where you can find most of the Zelenka-related recordings that I have made:
    http://michaeldriscollconductor.com/zelenka/


    Best,
    Mike



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