CD 36/37
Music from Stams Monastery XII
Luxury liturgical vestment (detail), about 1757, Stams Monastery
Johann Michael Malzat (1749- 1787) was from Vienna. He was still young when he went to the Tyrol to join the Innsbruck court music ensemble. After it was disbanded in 1748, however, the musician had difficulty finding a permanent job. Nevertheless, Malzat remained in the Tyrol until his early death. His compositions must have made a big impression, because in 1780 the chronicler of Stams referred to him as a famous musician. Malzat spent a considerable amount of time in Stams Monastery, the Tyrolean musical center of the day, and taught at the boys’ school newly founded in 1778. Stams Monastery also preserves most of Malzat’s surviving compositions. These consist of symphonies, partitas, chamber music (see CDs 35, 38) and sacred music of considerable quality, such as the large-scale Missa in C that is eloquent testimony to the high standards of church music cultivated at the time. The solemn requiem dating from 1784 was presumably intended for the parish church choir of Schwaz. At least this majestic piece has been preserved among the music in the Schwaz parish church, most of which is now kept in the Ferdinandeum. Malzat’s two important works for Tyrolean musical culture, which are also of interest beyond national borders, can now be heard for the fi rst time in over 200 years. It was not because of insufficient musical quality that these compositions were forgotten but mainly because of their very demanding technique. The much smaller 19th-century rural choirs were no longer equal to it. Another contributing factor was the great productivity of contemporary composers, of whom new works were constantly expected.
CD 1, Track 7, 3:16
Requiem solenne
Benedictus
Johann Michael Malzat
(1749-1787)