Sommer / Noack / Lange - Ballades & Romances for Baritone [CD]

Today it has mostly been forgotten that one of the founding fathers of German music copyright, Hans Sommer, whose real name was Hans Friedrich August Zincken, was also a prolific composer. Although the close connection between music and the educated middle class was taken for granted, the act of composing- either as a dilettante or as a professional- was still considered a hazardous venture. Hardly anyone could devote himself or herself entirely to composition without additional income from performance or teaching. Sommer took his first composition lessons in the 1850s, while studying mathematics and physics. Finally, in 1881, at the age of 47, Sommer withdrew to devote himself entirely to his musical inclinations. These songs require a wide range in terms of pitch and dynamics, long breath, and a differentiated approach to the text that is not easy to combine with the long phrases and wide-ranging legato slurs, and Baritone Sebastian Noack has mastered these skills. This is the first full-length album of Sommer's lieder.