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Neuchâtel, and he became a naturalised Swiss citizen. baritone voice. He died in June 1988 in Buffalo. Rehfuss made his professional operatic début at the The formation of the Wiener Singverein which Städtbundtheater, Biel-Solothurn in 1938. Then he sang grew out of the Choral Society of the Music Friends with the Lucerne Stadttheater (1938-1939) and the (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien) took place in J. S. BACH Zürich Opera (1940-1952) where he sang over eighty 1858. Currently with 180 active members the Wiener rôles. He subsequently was active mainly in Europe (La Singverein is the largest concert choir of Vienna. The Scala, Paris Opéra, Vienna State Opera, Amsterdam and choir introduced Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Munich) and in America (Chicago), later becoming a Bruckner’s Te Deum and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. The Mass in B Minor naturalised American citizen. Rehfuss taught singing at beginning of the last century saw the Wiener Singverein the Montreal Conservatory in 1961 and in 1965 joined under Franz Schalk re-introducing Bach’s oratorios in the Faculty of the State University of New York at unabridged performances. Karajan shaped the Wiener VON K Buffalo. He also toured Asia, giving vocal recitals in Singverein during the years 1947 to 1989 when he was RT AR India and Indonesia. Heinz Rehfuss was successful director of concerts of the Choral Society of the Music BE A mainly in dramatic rôles, such as Don Giovanni and Friends, directing them in more than 250 concerts. R JA Boris Godunov, but he was also respected as a Bach E N interpreter with his wide-ranging and highly flexible Malcolm Walker H

Producer’s Note 19 g 52- rdin The complete Bach Mass was transferred from a single set of French LP pressings. For many years, EMI were coy 53 Reco about the participation of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Orchestra in this recording, crediting the fictitious Orchestra of the Society of the Friends of Music and leading listeners to assume that some of the Philharmonia's featured players had been flown to Vienna for the sessions. More recently, it has come out that this Elisabeth Schwarzkopf • Marga Höffgen recording was in fact made in two countries with two different orchestras over eight months, not the two-week period in Vienna alone previously cited in EMI’s LP releases. Nicolai Gedda • Heinz Rehfuss The items in the Appendix come from a variety of sources. The Maynor disc was transferred from a postwar Choral Society of the Friends of Music, Vienna U.S. Victor 78; the Schumann/Balfour duet and the Schorr solo were taken from prewar Victor “Z” pressings of the first complete recording of the Bach Mass; the Thill 10-inch single came from a prewar American Columbia Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra • Philharmonia Orchestra “Full-Range” label pressing; and the Ferrier came from a British LP copy of the original monaural recording (prior Herbert von Karajan to its 1960 reissue with an overdubbed stereo accompaniment). Mark Obert-Thorn

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appeared during the same period both in Vienna and at Garden in London in 1959 as Erda, the Vienna State the Salzburg Festival in July and August in addition to Opera, the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires and the Bayreuth the Salzburg Easter Festival that he inaugurated in 1967, Festival. Marga Höffgen was one of the leading contralto so that his prestige and influence were enormous. He singers of Bach’s vocal works during the 1950s and the became the most significant conductor during the second 1960s and recorded with a number of the leading Great Choral Recordings half of the twentieth century. In addition Karajan conductors of the day conducted regularly at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and The versatility of the Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda appeared in Japan on a number of occasions. He left a has always been considered remarkable in that he has Johann Sebastian large number of filmed recordings of his conducting. As sung in and can speak seven languages. Born in an interpreter, never less than controversial, he is thought Stockholm in 1925 of a Russian father, a bass member of BACH to have made more recordings than any other classical the Kuban Don Cossack Choir and later cantor at the (1685-1750) musician during his career. Russian Orthodox Church in Leipzig, and a Swedish The German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was mother, he studied with the Swedish tenor Carl Maria born in December 1915. She studied at the Berlin Oehman at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music. He Mass in B Minor BWV 232 Hochschule für Musik and later with the soprano Maria made his début at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 1951 Ivogün, making her début as one of the Flowermaidens in the première of Sutermeister’s Der rote Stiefe, in Parsifal with the Städtische Oper, Berlin, in 1938. followed by the rôle of Chapelou in Adam’s Le postillon Originally a lyrical soprano she undertook rôles such as de Longjumeau in April 1952, an occasion which Elisabeth Schwarzkopf ...... soprano Adele in Die Fledermaus, Musetta in La Bohème and brought him to international attention. After taking part Marga Höffgen ...... mezzo-soprano Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos when she joined the in the first Western recording of Boris Godunov under Nicolai Gedda ...... tenor Vienna State Opera under Karl Böhm in 1943. Her first Dobrowen (Naxos 8.110242-44), Gedda made his La Heinz Rehfuss ...... bass overseas appearance was with this company on their visit Scala début in 1953 as Don Ottavio and the Groom in the to London in 1947 when she sang Donna Elvira in Don première of Orff’s Il trionfo di Afrodite. The following Choral Society of the Friends of Music, Vienna Giovanni and Marzelline in Fidelio. She then joined the years saw him appear at the Paris Opéra (Huon in Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra • Philharmonia Orchestra fledgling Covent Garden Company, where for five Oberon), the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Covent Garden Herbert von Karajan seasons she sang a variety of rôles, mostly in English. (the Duke in Rigoletto), Salzburg Festival (Belmonte in Alongside these appearances, Schwarzkopf sang at the Die Entführung) and the Metropolitan in New York as Recorded 2nd-5th and 7th November, 1952 in the Musikvereinsaal, Vienna Salzburg Festival (1946-1964), La Scala, Milan (1948- Gounod’s Faust. In 1958 he created the rôle of Anatol in (choruses sung by the Chorus of the Friends of Music, Vienna, with the Vienna Philharmonic) 1963), San Francisco (1955-1964) and, finally, the Barber’s Vanessa, which he also gave in Salzburg. He and 23rd, 28th and 30th November, 1952 and 16th July, 1953 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 1, London Metropolitan in New York in 1964. She was greatly first sang Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini at the Holland (solos and duets with the Philharmonia Orchestra) admired in the rôles of the Marschallin, Fiordiligi, the Festival in 1961, which he later repeated at Covent Countess in Le nozze di Figaro and Donna Elvira. She Garden in 1966, 1969 and 1976. He also appeared in First released on Columbia 33CX 1121 through 1123 also had a distinguished parallel career as a Lieder singer Russia in 1980-81 to great acclaim. His London concert in the concert hall. She was the wife of the impresario hall début took place in 1986. He sang at the Met for 22 and recording producer Walter Legge (1906-1979), seasons in 27 rôles in 289 performances. He was still Reissue Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn whom she married in 1953. recording as recently as 2002. Gedda has proved the Special thanks to Nathan Brown and Charles Niss The German contralto Marga Höffgen (1921-1995) most versatile lyric tenor of his time with a vast was born in Mülheim an der Ruhr and studied at the discography covering every conceivable aspect of the Berlin Hochschule für Musik with Hermann repertory. Weissenborn before making her concert début in 1952. The German born, Swiss, and later American bass- Later that year she made a highly successful appearance baritone, Heinz (Julius) Rehfuss (1917-1988) was born in Vienna in Bach’s St Matthew Passion under Karajan. in Frankfurt am Main, studying with his father Carl From then on she was active as a concert singer Rehfuss (1885-1946) and his mother, the contralto throughout Europe. Höffgen also appeared at Covent Florentine Rehfuss-Peichert. The family moved to 8.111053-54 27 8.111053-54 111053-54 bk BhMissa 7/10/06 1:03 PM Page 6

and instrumentalists who play on instruments of the November. The contribution of the original baritone CD 1 76:15 CD 2 77:26 period or modern copies. Tempi are also much brisker soloist, however, the Frenchman Camille Maurane, was and more rhythmic with these smaller forces. deemed unsatisfactory, and the two bass-baritone arias were re-recorded with the Swiss baritone Heinz Rehfuss Mass in B Minor Credo (concluded) 20:49 The Austrian-born conductor Herbert von Karajan on 16th July 1953 and these were used in the published I Kyrie 21:25 1 Crucifixus 2:52 (1908-1989) first conducted Bach’s Mass in B minor in recording. 1 Kyrie eleison 12:13 1936 whilst working in Aachen, where he was music What is of interest in this 1952/3 recording is that a 2 Et resurrexit 3:53 director. It was this work with which he made his first chamber organ was used for the continuo, lent by the 2 Christe eleison 6:00 appearance outside Germany, directing a performance in actor Bernard Miles from his nearby St John’s Wood 3 Et in Spiritum sanctum 6:31 Brussels later in the same month. Four years later it home. At that time the No.1 Studio did have an organ 3 Kyrie eleison 3:12 served as his introduction to Paris with two performances installed but it was totally unsuited to the needs of the 4 Confiteor 5:35 in December 1940. His next encounter with the Mass work in question. Three distinguished British organists II Gloria 40:32 was ten years later when he gave performances in were used during the London sessions, Geraint Jones and 4 Gloria in excelsis Deo 5:57 5 Et exspecto resurrectionem 1:59 Vienna, Milan, Venice and Perugia, the soprano soloist Thurston Dart in 1952 and George Malcolm for 1953. on every occasion being Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. The Critical comment on this recording when it first 5 Laudamus te 5:41 IV Sanctus 17:36 choir Karajan used in these 1950 performances was the appeared in 1954 was virtually unanimous. For example, 6 Sanctus 6:26 Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien, The Record Guide (Collins, 1955) remarked “The 6 Gratias agimus 3:57 who had appointed him their concert director for life in principal qualities of Karajan’s reading are lightness, that year. absolutely clarity of sound and rhythmic buoyancy, all of 7 Osanna 2:41 The idea of Karajan recording the Bach Mass grew them qualities that many performances miss … Karajan, 7 Domine Deus 6:10 out of these 1950 performances but his recording and Columbia’s engineers, allow us to hear all the vocal 8 Benedictus 5:49 producer Walter Legge (1906-1979) had virtually ceased and instrumental parts. Choral and solo singing are 8 Qui tollis 4:05 working in Vienna the previous year in order to use his delightful”. Four decades later Choral Music on Record 9 Osanna 2:41 own Philharmonia Orchestra in London for his (CUP, 1990) remarked that “this incisive and persuasive 9 Qui sedes 5:32 orchestral recordings. Furthermore the rival Decca reading remains a satisfying one, one of the best in the V Agnus Dei 11:08 Record Company had begun working fairly extensively ‘modern’ style”. Even today, Karajan’s interpretation has 0 Quoniam tu solus 5:24 0 Agnus Dei 7:02 in Vienna from June 1950 onwards. The problem for stood the test of time remarkably well, for when Legge was which choir to use, a London one (possibly Gramophone reviewed a CD transfer in March 2000 it ! Cum sancto Spiritu 3:47 ! Dona nobis pacem 4:07 the BBC Chorus, Britain’s only professional choir at the remarked on a “[Karajan] performance which challenges time) or Karajan’s Viennese ensemble which the all preconceptions about monumentalism in Bach … III Credo 14:17 Manoug Parikian, solo violin conductor was obviously keen to use. The decision was How prescient are the clear-textured counterpoints in the @ Credo in unum Deum 2:51 made that the Viennese one, accompanied by members choruses… the snappy rhythms, the light articulation and Gareth Morris, solo flute of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (anonymously), be lean accompaniments”. # Patrem omnipotentem 2:01 Sidney Sutcliffe, solo oboe d’amore used so twelve sessions where booked for rehearsal and Karajan studied first in Salzburg and then in Vienna Peter Newbury, solo oboe d’amore recording between 26th October and 5th November under Franz Schalk. He made his début in Ulm in 1929 1952. The actual recordings were made on 2nd-5th and and remained there for five years, moving to Aachen in $ Et in unum Dominum 5:15 Dennis Brain, solo horn 7th November. The soloists were to be recorded in EMI’s the years 1935-37. A much-praised Berlin début Thurston Dart, Geraint Jones, organ Abbey Road Studios in London later the same month conducting Tristan und Isolde led to his international % Et incarnatus est 4:11 (London November 1952 sessions) using the reduced forces of Legge’s own Philharmonia career. Banned from conducting in public from 1945 to Orchestra with the section principals for instrumental 1947, he made his first London appearance in 1948 and George Malcolm, organ (London July 1953 sessions) solo parts. These included the flautist Gareth Morris, the became a regular visitor for the next decade, appearing two oboe d’amore players Sidney Sutcliffe and Peter increasingly with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Karajan Newburn, and the legendary horn player Dennis Brain. was appointed conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic These sessions took place between 23rd and 30th Orchestra in 1955 and continued until his death. He also 8.111053-54 6 3 8.111053-54 111053-54 bk BhMissa 7/10/06 1:03 PM Page 4

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) Appendix: ^ Agnus Dei 5:48 Missa in B Minor BWV 232 Historical Recordings of Kathleen Ferrier, contralto Bach’s Mass in B Minor (1929-52) London Philharmonic Orchestra . Adrian Boult To all intents Bach’s Mass in B minor could be around the same era was the single chorus Cum sancto Recorded 7th October, 1952 in Kingsway Hall, described as the composer’s re-workings of his choicest Spiritu by the Berlin Philharmonic Choir under Siegfried @ Laudamus te 4:49 London pages of choral music, assembled in the closing years of Ochs on HMV’s German Electrola label, affording us a Dorothy Maynor, soprano Matrix: AR 17238 his life. The genesis of the work, however, stretched back glimpse of the German approach to Bach which goes Joseph Fuchs, solo violin First issued on Decca LXT 2757 over more than two decades. It has also been suggested back to the time when Mendelssohn reintroduced Bach’s Victor Orchestra . Sylvan Levin by some commentators that the composer may have choral works in the nineteenth century. The work was Recorded 5th October, 1945 in the Lotos Club, intended the resultant work more as a monument than for first recorded complete, however, over the months of New York City any particular performance. Scored for four soloists, a March to May 1929 under Albert Coates. This recording choir divided into two sopranos, alto, tenor and bass is most decidedly uneven, inflated, and contains some Matrix: D5-RC-1418 voices, strings and continuo with three trumpets, a solo bizarre examples of bad balance between chorus and First issued on RCA Victor 11-9108 cor a caccia, two recorders (flutes), two oboe d’amore orchestra. The four soloists, however, three of whom and two bassoons, the work is cast by Bach into four appear in the appendix to the complete recording on this # Et in unum Dominum 4:48 parts - the Missa comprising the Kyrie and Gloria, the Naxos re-issue, are exemplary, the soprano Elisabeth Elisabeth Schumann, soprano Symbolum Nicenum containing the whole of the Credo, Schumann displaying an engagingly radiant tone, Margaret Balfour, contralto the Sanctus, and a composite Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus contralto Margaret Balfour gravitas and solidity, and London Symphony Orchestra . Albert Coates Dei and Dona nobis pacem. Bach invariably gives his baritone Friedrich Schorr (the most distinguished Wotan Recorded 29th May, 1929 instrumentalists solos in the arias. For example, the of his time) memorable in the ease with which he in Kingsway Hall, London violin in the Laudamus te, a recorder (flute) in the manages the high Et in Spiritum sanctum. It was not until Matrix: Cc 16645-3A Domine Deus and Benedictus, an oboe d’amore in the 1947 that the Mass was recorded complete again when First issued on HMV C 1720 Qui sedes and Et in Spiritum, a horn in the Quoniam. the American conductor Robert Shaw and New York The original Missa section was initially completed forces employed a much smaller number of performers. $ Et in Spiritum sanctum 6:21 and performed in July 1733 when Bach was attempting The singers are all perfectly capable and unexceptionable Friedrich Schorr, baritone to curry favour with the new King of Saxony, whereas but it is the chorus and instrumentalist soloists who . the remainder of the work was assembled during the particularly impress. The final track here gives a London Symphony Orchestra Albert Coates years 1748-49, just before the composer’s death in 1750. memorable example of an outstanding English Bach Recorded 14th May, 1929 The revised Missa survives in the hand of his wife Anna singer of half a century ago: Kathleen Ferrier. She in Kingsway Hall, London Magdalena while the second to the fourth parts are in the delivers a poignant and telling account of the Agnus Dei, Matrices: Cc 16632-1 and 16633-1A composer’s handwriting. Bach, however, never heard his recorded a year before her untimely death in 1953. Much First issued on HMV C 1722 completed work. His son Carl Philipp Emanuel did direct less well known is the rare recording of the Benedictus a performance of the Credo in Hamburg in 1784 but it by the French tenor Georges Thill, which illustrates the % Benedictus 6:05 was not until the following century that the work was prevalent French approach to Bach seventy years ago. Georges Thill, tenor heard in full. By then, however, the composer’s style and It was the year 1950 which marked the two Henri Merckel, solo violin age had moved on into a new and entirely different world hundredth anniversary of the composer’s birth that Orchestra . Gustave Bret of performance. brought about the first emergence of a revision of the Recorded 27th April, 1936 in Paris The history of Bach’s Mass in B minor on record interpretation of Bach’s music. Musicians began to Matrices: CL 5710-1 and 5711-1 dates back to 1926 when a number of choruses were rethink and re-examine scores in an attempt to come First issued on Columbia LF 151 recorded live in London’s Royal Albert Hall by the closer to the performing style of Bach’s time. In the half Royal Choral Society under Edward Bairstow. The century since then the whole approach has been turned choral singing, albeit with a large choir as was common on its head so that today we have soloists who understand at that time, is remarkably good, even if the recorded fully the conventions of a truer Bach approach together sound is dim, distant and murky. More interesting from with the use of small professional, highly flexible choirs

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) Appendix: ^ Agnus Dei 5:48 Missa in B Minor BWV 232 Historical Recordings of Kathleen Ferrier, contralto Bach’s Mass in B Minor (1929-52) London Philharmonic Orchestra . Adrian Boult To all intents Bach’s Mass in B minor could be around the same era was the single chorus Cum sancto Recorded 7th October, 1952 in Kingsway Hall, described as the composer’s re-workings of his choicest Spiritu by the Berlin Philharmonic Choir under Siegfried @ Laudamus te 4:49 London pages of choral music, assembled in the closing years of Ochs on HMV’s German Electrola label, affording us a Dorothy Maynor, soprano Matrix: AR 17238 his life. The genesis of the work, however, stretched back glimpse of the German approach to Bach which goes Joseph Fuchs, solo violin First issued on Decca LXT 2757 over more than two decades. It has also been suggested back to the time when Mendelssohn reintroduced Bach’s Victor Orchestra . Sylvan Levin by some commentators that the composer may have choral works in the nineteenth century. The work was Recorded 5th October, 1945 in the Lotos Club, intended the resultant work more as a monument than for first recorded complete, however, over the months of New York City any particular performance. Scored for four soloists, a March to May 1929 under Albert Coates. This recording choir divided into two sopranos, alto, tenor and bass is most decidedly uneven, inflated, and contains some Matrix: D5-RC-1418 voices, strings and continuo with three trumpets, a solo bizarre examples of bad balance between chorus and First issued on RCA Victor 11-9108 cor a caccia, two recorders (flutes), two oboe d’amore orchestra. The four soloists, however, three of whom and two bassoons, the work is cast by Bach into four appear in the appendix to the complete recording on this # Et in unum Dominum 4:48 parts - the Missa comprising the Kyrie and Gloria, the Naxos re-issue, are exemplary, the soprano Elisabeth Elisabeth Schumann, soprano Symbolum Nicenum containing the whole of the Credo, Schumann displaying an engagingly radiant tone, Margaret Balfour, contralto the Sanctus, and a composite Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus contralto Margaret Balfour gravitas and solidity, and London Symphony Orchestra . Albert Coates Dei and Dona nobis pacem. Bach invariably gives his baritone Friedrich Schorr (the most distinguished Wotan Recorded 29th May, 1929 instrumentalists solos in the arias. For example, the of his time) memorable in the ease with which he in Kingsway Hall, London violin in the Laudamus te, a recorder (flute) in the manages the high Et in Spiritum sanctum. It was not until Matrix: Cc 16645-3A Domine Deus and Benedictus, an oboe d’amore in the 1947 that the Mass was recorded complete again when First issued on HMV C 1720 Qui sedes and Et in Spiritum, a horn in the Quoniam. the American conductor Robert Shaw and New York The original Missa section was initially completed forces employed a much smaller number of performers. $ Et in Spiritum sanctum 6:21 and performed in July 1733 when Bach was attempting The singers are all perfectly capable and unexceptionable Friedrich Schorr, baritone to curry favour with the new King of Saxony, whereas but it is the chorus and instrumentalist soloists who . the remainder of the work was assembled during the particularly impress. The final track here gives a London Symphony Orchestra Albert Coates years 1748-49, just before the composer’s death in 1750. memorable example of an outstanding English Bach Recorded 14th May, 1929 The revised Missa survives in the hand of his wife Anna singer of half a century ago: Kathleen Ferrier. She in Kingsway Hall, London Magdalena while the second to the fourth parts are in the delivers a poignant and telling account of the Agnus Dei, Matrices: Cc 16632-1 and 16633-1A composer’s handwriting. Bach, however, never heard his recorded a year before her untimely death in 1953. Much First issued on HMV C 1722 completed work. His son Carl Philipp Emanuel did direct less well known is the rare recording of the Benedictus a performance of the Credo in Hamburg in 1784 but it by the French tenor Georges Thill, which illustrates the % Benedictus 6:05 was not until the following century that the work was prevalent French approach to Bach seventy years ago. Georges Thill, tenor heard in full. By then, however, the composer’s style and It was the year 1950 which marked the two Henri Merckel, solo violin age had moved on into a new and entirely different world hundredth anniversary of the composer’s birth that Orchestra . Gustave Bret of performance. brought about the first emergence of a revision of the Recorded 27th April, 1936 in Paris The history of Bach’s Mass in B minor on record interpretation of Bach’s music. Musicians began to Matrices: CL 5710-1 and 5711-1 dates back to 1926 when a number of choruses were rethink and re-examine scores in an attempt to come First issued on Columbia LF 151 recorded live in London’s Royal Albert Hall by the closer to the performing style of Bach’s time. In the half Royal Choral Society under Edward Bairstow. The century since then the whole approach has been turned choral singing, albeit with a large choir as was common on its head so that today we have soloists who understand at that time, is remarkably good, even if the recorded fully the conventions of a truer Bach approach together sound is dim, distant and murky. More interesting from with the use of small professional, highly flexible choirs

8.111053-54 4 5 8.111053-54 111053-54 bk BhMissa 7/10/06 1:03 PM Page 6

and instrumentalists who play on instruments of the November. The contribution of the original baritone CD 1 76:15 CD 2 77:26 period or modern copies. Tempi are also much brisker soloist, however, the Frenchman Camille Maurane, was and more rhythmic with these smaller forces. deemed unsatisfactory, and the two bass-baritone arias were re-recorded with the Swiss baritone Heinz Rehfuss Mass in B Minor Credo (concluded) 20:49 The Austrian-born conductor Herbert von Karajan on 16th July 1953 and these were used in the published I Kyrie 21:25 1 Crucifixus 2:52 (1908-1989) first conducted Bach’s Mass in B minor in recording. 1 Kyrie eleison 12:13 1936 whilst working in Aachen, where he was music What is of interest in this 1952/3 recording is that a 2 Et resurrexit 3:53 director. It was this work with which he made his first chamber organ was used for the continuo, lent by the 2 Christe eleison 6:00 appearance outside Germany, directing a performance in actor Bernard Miles from his nearby St John’s Wood 3 Et in Spiritum sanctum 6:31 Brussels later in the same month. Four years later it home. At that time the No.1 Studio did have an organ 3 Kyrie eleison 3:12 served as his introduction to Paris with two performances installed but it was totally unsuited to the needs of the 4 Confiteor 5:35 in December 1940. His next encounter with the Mass work in question. Three distinguished British organists II Gloria 40:32 was ten years later when he gave performances in were used during the London sessions, Geraint Jones and 4 Gloria in excelsis Deo 5:57 5 Et exspecto resurrectionem 1:59 Vienna, Milan, Venice and Perugia, the soprano soloist Thurston Dart in 1952 and George Malcolm for 1953. on every occasion being Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. The Critical comment on this recording when it first 5 Laudamus te 5:41 IV Sanctus 17:36 choir Karajan used in these 1950 performances was the appeared in 1954 was virtually unanimous. For example, 6 Sanctus 6:26 Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien, The Record Guide (Collins, 1955) remarked “The 6 Gratias agimus 3:57 who had appointed him their concert director for life in principal qualities of Karajan’s reading are lightness, that year. absolutely clarity of sound and rhythmic buoyancy, all of 7 Osanna 2:41 The idea of Karajan recording the Bach Mass grew them qualities that many performances miss … Karajan, 7 Domine Deus 6:10 out of these 1950 performances but his recording and Columbia’s engineers, allow us to hear all the vocal 8 Benedictus 5:49 producer Walter Legge (1906-1979) had virtually ceased and instrumental parts. Choral and solo singing are 8 Qui tollis 4:05 working in Vienna the previous year in order to use his delightful”. Four decades later Choral Music on Record 9 Osanna 2:41 own Philharmonia Orchestra in London for his (CUP, 1990) remarked that “this incisive and persuasive 9 Qui sedes 5:32 orchestral recordings. Furthermore the rival Decca reading remains a satisfying one, one of the best in the V Agnus Dei 11:08 Record Company had begun working fairly extensively ‘modern’ style”. Even today, Karajan’s interpretation has 0 Quoniam tu solus 5:24 0 Agnus Dei 7:02 in Vienna from June 1950 onwards. The problem for stood the test of time remarkably well, for when Legge was which choir to use, a London one (possibly Gramophone reviewed a CD transfer in March 2000 it ! Cum sancto Spiritu 3:47 ! Dona nobis pacem 4:07 the BBC Chorus, Britain’s only professional choir at the remarked on a “[Karajan] performance which challenges time) or Karajan’s Viennese ensemble which the all preconceptions about monumentalism in Bach … III Credo 14:17 Manoug Parikian, solo violin conductor was obviously keen to use. The decision was How prescient are the clear-textured counterpoints in the @ Credo in unum Deum 2:51 made that the Viennese one, accompanied by members choruses… the snappy rhythms, the light articulation and Gareth Morris, solo flute of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (anonymously), be lean accompaniments”. # Patrem omnipotentem 2:01 Sidney Sutcliffe, solo oboe d’amore used so twelve sessions where booked for rehearsal and Karajan studied first in Salzburg and then in Vienna Peter Newbury, solo oboe d’amore recording between 26th October and 5th November under Franz Schalk. He made his début in Ulm in 1929 1952. The actual recordings were made on 2nd-5th and and remained there for five years, moving to Aachen in $ Et in unum Dominum 5:15 Dennis Brain, solo horn 7th November. The soloists were to be recorded in EMI’s the years 1935-37. A much-praised Berlin début Thurston Dart, Geraint Jones, organ Abbey Road Studios in London later the same month conducting Tristan und Isolde led to his international % Et incarnatus est 4:11 (London November 1952 sessions) using the reduced forces of Legge’s own Philharmonia career. Banned from conducting in public from 1945 to Orchestra with the section principals for instrumental 1947, he made his first London appearance in 1948 and George Malcolm, organ (London July 1953 sessions) solo parts. These included the flautist Gareth Morris, the became a regular visitor for the next decade, appearing two oboe d’amore players Sidney Sutcliffe and Peter increasingly with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Karajan Newburn, and the legendary horn player Dennis Brain. was appointed conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic These sessions took place between 23rd and 30th Orchestra in 1955 and continued until his death. He also 8.111053-54 6 3 8.111053-54 111053-54 bk BhMissa 7/10/06 1:03 PM Page 2

appeared during the same period both in Vienna and at Garden in London in 1959 as Erda, the Vienna State the Salzburg Festival in July and August in addition to Opera, the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires and the Bayreuth the Salzburg Easter Festival that he inaugurated in 1967, Festival. Marga Höffgen was one of the leading contralto so that his prestige and influence were enormous. He singers of Bach’s vocal works during the 1950s and the became the most significant conductor during the second 1960s and recorded with a number of the leading Great Choral Recordings half of the twentieth century. In addition Karajan conductors of the day conducted regularly at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and The versatility of the Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda appeared in Japan on a number of occasions. He left a has always been considered remarkable in that he has Johann Sebastian large number of filmed recordings of his conducting. As sung in and can speak seven languages. Born in an interpreter, never less than controversial, he is thought Stockholm in 1925 of a Russian father, a bass member of BACH to have made more recordings than any other classical the Kuban Don Cossack Choir and later cantor at the (1685-1750) musician during his career. Russian Orthodox Church in Leipzig, and a Swedish The German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was mother, he studied with the Swedish tenor Carl Maria born in December 1915. She studied at the Berlin Oehman at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music. He Mass in B Minor BWV 232 Hochschule für Musik and later with the soprano Maria made his début at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 1951 Ivogün, making her début as one of the Flowermaidens in the première of Sutermeister’s Der rote Stiefe, in Parsifal with the Städtische Oper, Berlin, in 1938. followed by the rôle of Chapelou in Adam’s Le postillon Originally a lyrical soprano she undertook rôles such as de Longjumeau in April 1952, an occasion which Elisabeth Schwarzkopf ...... soprano Adele in Die Fledermaus, Musetta in La Bohème and brought him to international attention. After taking part Marga Höffgen ...... mezzo-soprano Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos when she joined the in the first Western recording of Boris Godunov under Nicolai Gedda ...... tenor Vienna State Opera under Karl Böhm in 1943. Her first Dobrowen (Naxos 8.110242-44), Gedda made his La Heinz Rehfuss ...... bass overseas appearance was with this company on their visit Scala début in 1953 as Don Ottavio and the Groom in the to London in 1947 when she sang Donna Elvira in Don première of Orff’s Il trionfo di Afrodite. The following Choral Society of the Friends of Music, Vienna Giovanni and Marzelline in Fidelio. She then joined the years saw him appear at the Paris Opéra (Huon in Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra • Philharmonia Orchestra fledgling Covent Garden Company, where for five Oberon), the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Covent Garden Herbert von Karajan seasons she sang a variety of rôles, mostly in English. (the Duke in Rigoletto), Salzburg Festival (Belmonte in Alongside these appearances, Schwarzkopf sang at the Die Entführung) and the Metropolitan in New York as Recorded 2nd-5th and 7th November, 1952 in the Musikvereinsaal, Vienna Salzburg Festival (1946-1964), La Scala, Milan (1948- Gounod’s Faust. In 1958 he created the rôle of Anatol in (choruses sung by the Chorus of the Friends of Music, Vienna, with the Vienna Philharmonic) 1963), San Francisco (1955-1964) and, finally, the Barber’s Vanessa, which he also gave in Salzburg. He and 23rd, 28th and 30th November, 1952 and 16th July, 1953 in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 1, London Metropolitan in New York in 1964. She was greatly first sang Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini at the Holland (solos and duets with the Philharmonia Orchestra) admired in the rôles of the Marschallin, Fiordiligi, the Festival in 1961, which he later repeated at Covent Countess in Le nozze di Figaro and Donna Elvira. She Garden in 1966, 1969 and 1976. He also appeared in First released on Columbia 33CX 1121 through 1123 also had a distinguished parallel career as a Lieder singer Russia in 1980-81 to great acclaim. His London concert in the concert hall. She was the wife of the impresario hall début took place in 1986. He sang at the Met for 22 and recording producer Walter Legge (1906-1979), seasons in 27 rôles in 289 performances. He was still Reissue Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn whom she married in 1953. recording as recently as 2002. Gedda has proved the Special thanks to Nathan Brown and Charles Niss The German contralto Marga Höffgen (1921-1995) most versatile lyric tenor of his time with a vast was born in Mülheim an der Ruhr and studied at the discography covering every conceivable aspect of the Berlin Hochschule für Musik with Hermann repertory. Weissenborn before making her concert début in 1952. The German born, Swiss, and later American bass- Later that year she made a highly successful appearance baritone, Heinz (Julius) Rehfuss (1917-1988) was born in Vienna in Bach’s St Matthew Passion under Karajan. in Frankfurt am Main, studying with his father Carl From then on she was active as a concert singer Rehfuss (1885-1946) and his mother, the contralto throughout Europe. Höffgen also appeared at Covent Florentine Rehfuss-Peichert. The family moved to 8.111053-54 27 8.111053-54 111053-54 bk BhMissa 7/10/06 1:03 PM Page 8

Neuchâtel, and he became a naturalised Swiss citizen. baritone voice. He died in June 1988 in Buffalo. Rehfuss made his professional operatic début at the The formation of the Wiener Singverein which Städtbundtheater, Biel-Solothurn in 1938. Then he sang grew out of the Choral Society of the Music Friends with the Lucerne Stadttheater (1938-1939) and the (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien) took place in J. S. BACH Zürich Opera (1940-1952) where he sang over eighty 1858. Currently with 180 active members the Wiener rôles. He subsequently was active mainly in Europe (La Singverein is the largest concert choir of Vienna. The Scala, Paris Opéra, Vienna State Opera, Amsterdam and choir introduced Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Munich) and in America (Chicago), later becoming a Bruckner’s Te Deum and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. The Mass in B Minor naturalised American citizen. Rehfuss taught singing at beginning of the last century saw the Wiener Singverein the Montreal Conservatory in 1961 and in 1965 joined under Franz Schalk re-introducing Bach’s oratorios in the Faculty of the State University of New York at unabridged performances. Karajan shaped the Wiener VON K Buffalo. He also toured Asia, giving vocal recitals in Singverein during the years 1947 to 1989 when he was RT AR India and Indonesia. Heinz Rehfuss was successful director of concerts of the Choral Society of the Music BE A mainly in dramatic rôles, such as Don Giovanni and Friends, directing them in more than 250 concerts. R JA Boris Godunov, but he was also respected as a Bach E N interpreter with his wide-ranging and highly flexible Malcolm Walker H

Producer’s Note 19 g 52- rdin The complete Bach Mass was transferred from a single set of French LP pressings. For many years, EMI were coy 53 Reco about the participation of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Orchestra in this recording, crediting the fictitious Orchestra of the Society of the Friends of Music and leading listeners to assume that some of the Philharmonia's featured players had been flown to Vienna for the sessions. More recently, it has come out that this Elisabeth Schwarzkopf • Marga Höffgen recording was in fact made in two countries with two different orchestras over eight months, not the two-week period in Vienna alone previously cited in EMI’s LP releases. Nicolai Gedda • Heinz Rehfuss The items in the Appendix come from a variety of sources. The Maynor disc was transferred from a postwar Choral Society of the Friends of Music, Vienna U.S. Victor 78; the Schumann/Balfour duet and the Schorr solo were taken from prewar Victor “Z” pressings of the first complete recording of the Bach Mass; the Thill 10-inch single came from a prewar American Columbia Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra • Philharmonia Orchestra “Full-Range” label pressing; and the Ferrier came from a British LP copy of the original monaural recording (prior Herbert von Karajan to its 1960 reissue with an overdubbed stereo accompaniment). Mark Obert-Thorn

8.111053-54 8 CMYK NAXOS Historical NAXOS Historical 8.111053-54 Johann Sebastian Playing Time ADD BACH 2:33:41 (1685-1750) and copying of this compact disc prohibited. broadcasting Unauthorised public performance, texts and translations reserved. artwork, All rights in this sound recording, &

Mass in B Minor BWV 232 06NxsRgt nentoa t.Made in the EU 2006 Naxos Rights International Ltd. This legendary recording of Bach’s B minor Elisabeth Schwarzkopf ...... soprano Mass was made, most unusually, in two places and with two orchestras. The Vienna Marga Höffgen ...... mezzo-soprano Philharmonic Orchestra was booked, Nicolai Gedda ...... tenor anonymously, to record the choruses with the .S BACH: S. J. .S. BACH: J. Choral Society of the Friends of Music,Vienna, Heinz Rehfuss ...... bass while the reduced forces of the Philharmonia, Choral Society of the Friends of Music,Vienna with the section principals for instrumental solo parts, accompanied the solos and duets in Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra • Philharmonia Orchestra London. Critical comment on this recording Herbert von Karajan when it first appeared in 1954 was virtually unanimous. The Record Guide (Collins, 1955) remarked “The principal qualities of Karajan’s asi Minor Mass in B asi Minor Mass in B reading are lightness, absolute clarity of sound Recorded 2nd-5th and 7th November, 1952 in Vienna and rhythmic buoyancy, all of them qualities and 23rd, 28th and 30th November, 1952 that many performances miss … Karajan, and [the] engineers, allow us to hear all the vocal and 16th July, 1953 in London and instrumental parts.Choral and solo singing are delightful”. CD 1 76:15 CD 2 77:26 1-3 1 Kyrie 21:25 1-5 III Credo (concluded) 20:49 4-! II Gloria 40:32 6-9 IV Sanctus 17:36 @-^ III Credo 14:17 0-! V Agnus Dei 11:08

@-^ Appendix: Historical Recordings of Bach’s Mass in B Minor 27:51 8.111053-54 8.111053-54

Reissue Producer and Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn Special thanks to Nathan Brown and Charles Niss Cover photo: Herbert von Karajan (Private Collection) www.naxos.com