I’m going to be playing in the next First Mondays concert, March 2, at 7:00 pm at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu, titled “The Court of Weissenfels,” which will feature music of the composers who worked there: Bach, Handel and Johann Philip Krieger (1649-1725).

As you can see, the concert has an all-Star cast:

I’m really enjoying the repertoire in this program, especially the Sonata in D minor, op. 2. no. 2 by Johann Philip Krieger, whose name I did not know before. His family worked as rugmakers, and Johann Philip showed musical talent early when it was discovered that he had perfect pitch. According to biographer Johann Mattheson, the child was already able to impress large audiences and was composing attractive arias after a year of studies .

From Wikipedia: Johann Philipp Krieger was a prolific composer and supplied the Weißenfels court with countless sacred and secular works, including some 2,000 cantatas, at least 18 operas, trio-sonatas, etc. He also had numerous works by other composers performed at the court, and kept a catalogue of every piece he performed. He actively published his own music: a set of trio sonatas appeared in 1688, to be followed by another, then a collection of music for wind instruments, etc. Unfortunately, numerous works were lost: for instance, of the 2,000 cantatas only 76 are extant. This is the case with his brother’s music, too: hundreds of his compositions are listed in Johann Philipp’s catalogue, but very few survive. Johann Philipp died in 1725. He was succeeded as Weißenfels Kapellmeister by his son, Johann Gotthilf, until 1736.

The name, Weissenfels, seemed vaguely familiar to me, and then I searched my photos, and wouldn’t you know it, I was there with my husband, Carl, my son, Stephen, and choir friend, Vreni Griffith, on June 13-14, 2012. (I even wrote a blog post: Visiting Weissenfels)

Here’s more information I found about the Palace Chapel at Weissenfels:

One treasure of the mighty Baroque castle is the castle church, which has been preserved in its original state. Bach and Handel amongst others played the organ here. Today the castle houses a museum which offers temporary exhibitions as well as permanent exhibitions of the history of the shoe and of the castle.

Neu-Augustusburg Castle was built between 1660 and 1694 as the residence of the collateral line of the electors of Saxony, the Sachsen-Weißenfels. It is one of the largest early Baroque castles in central Germany. Today part of it is home to the town museum, where amongst other things the largest shoe collection in eastern Germany and an exhibition on the duchy of Sachsen-Weißenfels are on display. The early Baroque castle church has been preserved in its original condition and is one of the most beautiful in central Europe. Beneath the altar room is a vault containing 38 sarcophaguses of the ducal families.

Hope you can come to the concert! Here’s a recording of the Krieger D minor Sonata which I referenced earlier: