Carl Drobisch (1803–1854)

[tpaloj]

Carl Ludwig Drobisch (1803–1854) was a German composer, music theorist and church musician. He was the brother of the mathematician and philosopher Moritz Wilhelm Drobisch and his son was the composer Eugen Drobisch. Besides staying in München in the 1830s Carl Drobisch was stationed in Augsburg for most of his life, composing sacred music for the protestant congregation's uses there. His compositions include sacred music, oratorios, symphonies and songs.

Unlike the english wikipedia article's wording might suggest, Carl Drobisch composed several oratorios:
- Bonifacius
- Moses aus der Sinai
- Des Heilands letzte Stunden
- Die Sündfluth
- Die vier Elemente (sometimes called an oratorio, sometimes a cantata)

I'm not aware of any catalogues of his works, but a good source is Augsburg Staatsbibliothek's manuscript catalogue which lists their large collection of Drobisch autographs. RISM is also useful for assessing Drobisch's compositions.


DES HEILANDS LETZTE STUNDEN

This is a Noteperformer-rendered transcription of Drobisch's oratorio. The subject matter is the same as Spohr's oratorio of the same name (which was coincidentally composed nearly simultaneously), but the two oratorios use a different text. It lasts for about a quarter past an hour and is divided into two parts. I find the work displays a very strong talent of orchestration, choral writing and is overall well proportioned. Powerful choruses and a nice sense of melody throughout. Let me know what you think. Naturally the lack of real singers is a detriment but I hope it can be excused in these circumstances and the transcription gives some idea of the music.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/gPgfO_liY-E
LIBRETTO: Dropbox link

REVIEW IN NEUE ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR MUSIK 1836: Dropbox link

[Alan Howe]

Thanks very much for all your hard work on this ambitious work. I have found it difficult to listen to the wordless simulations of the vocal parts, but I appreciate your efforts nevertheless.

[tpaloj]

That's just it, no worries Alan. Unfortunately I don't have the know-how to make the voices sound any more realistic than that.

By the way, I'm not a great fan of the copyist who copied the score I used as the source. For example, tied chords of two or more notes are usually only tied by a single tie, which leads to ambiguous readings in many cases. And slurs felt misaligned in many places as well, etc. I couldn't find out where the composer's original autograph is located, so I had no other sources to rely on.

[Alan Howe]

It's just a bit odd listening to wordless vocals. But clearly you couldn't do anything else.