Jan Dismas Zelenka: Psalmi Varii Separatim Scripti

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These compositions come from the fourth and final cycle of psalms composed by Jan Dismas Zelenka. Earlier three cycles comprising thirty-three psalm and Magnificat settings for the Office of Vespers. Under the heading ‘Psalmi Vespertini totius anni’ these entries demonstrate that his thirty-three Vespers compositions were conceived in three cycles over approximately three years for the Catholic court church of Dresden, a royal chapel dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity. The unavoidable assumption is that this was a well-considered and deliberate plan. The psalms of this final cycle have no such plan or purpose. Listed under the title Psalmi varii: J.D.Z: Separatim Scripti, this group seems to represent additional works composed for a variety of occasions. The last extant setting was finished at an unknown time, certainly after mid 1730. The cycle includes the longest and most brilliant of all Zelenka’s psalm compositions intermingled with works of great simplicity, settings undoubtedly intended for the young Bohemian vocalists and instrumentalists of the court church’s music ensemble. On the other hand, the longer virtuosic works which reveal developments in Zelenka’s vocal writing must have been composed for singers and instrumentalists of Dresden’s renowned Hofkapelle. At a later time, probably during the first half of the 1730s, Zelenka took many of his psalm settings into yet another catalogue. Titled simply Psalmi varii, this later corpus comprises works from his collection of settings by other composers, as well as various items from the Psalmi varii: J.D.Z: Separatim Scripti (but notably, none from the ‘Psalmi Vespertini totius anni’ are found here). Included in the Psalmi varii are only those psalms and canticle required for the Sunday Vespers: Dixit Dominus (nine settings); Confitebor tibi Domine (nine); Beatus vir (thirteen); Laudate pueri (sixteen); Laudate Dominum (six); the canticle Magnificat (ten). This suggests that Zelenka had become responsible for directing the music for ordinary Sunday Vespers in Dresden’s royal Catholic chapel.