Stölzel enjoyed an outstanding reputation in his lifetime. Shortly after his death some of his compositions were still performed, and
Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg rated him slightly above Bach in his list of prominent composers of the 18th century. From the second half of the 20th century there was an increase of musicological research about the composer, and recordings of his work.
Contemporaries Before he settled in Gotha for the last thirty years of his life Stölzel had already seen his music performed from Germany to Italy. His operas had been staged in several major cities in the 1710s. His sacred music was performed from Catholic Prague to the Protestant German principalities. Even after his music production became concentrated on Gotha and Sondershausen, his music was still performed outside these places. One of his operas was performed in Altenburg in 1722, the Saitenspiel cantata cycle was performed under
Johann Friedrich Fasch in Zerbst in 1724–25, and the first Passion he had composed for Gotha, and reworked around 1730, was taken up in several German cities: • Johann Sebastian Bach performed
Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld on Good Friday in
Leipzig. • In 1736 the Passion was performed as
Geistliche Und Heilige Betrachtungen der Gläubigen Seele über Ihren Leidenden und Sterbenden Jesum in
Rudolstadt, and in a similar version (
Der Glaubigen Seele geistliche Betrachtungen Ihres leidenden Jesu) in
Nürnberg. The music of this work had originally been believed to have been Bach's own. Before that, Bach and his family had shown their interest in various genres of Stölzel's music: •
Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach: in the 1720s Bach copied a four-movement harpsichord suite
Partia di Signore Steltzeln (
Partita by Mr. Stölzel) as 48th piece in the Klavierbüchlein (keyboard-booklet) of his eldest son
Wilhelm Friedemann, adding a
Trio (BWV 929) of his own hand to its last movement, a
Minuet. • Possibly in the period 1732–35 Bach performed cantatas of Stölzel's Namebook cycle in Leipzig. • From the first Sunday after
Trinity 1735 to Trinity Sunday the next year Bach probably performed Stölzel's entire String-Music cantata cycle in Leipzig's churches. Text booklets containing Schmolck's librettos and the chorales Stölzel had added to his settings of these librettos, were printed for the Leipzig church services in that period. •
Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach: some time after 1733–34
Anna Magdalena Bach noted "
Bist du bei mir",
BWV 508, based on the aria "Bist du bei mir geh ich mit Freuden" from Stölzel's opera
Diomedes, in her notebook. For a long time the music of this aria was misattributed to her husband Johann Sebastian.
Johann Mattheson reckoned Stölzel among "the level-headed, learned, and great music masters" of his century. Stölzel's legacy was however disintegrating through sales of manuscripts, which court musicians had continued after the composer's death. Through Benda's neglect manuscripts of Stölzel's works in Gotha were lost. In Sondershausen Stölzel's works were copied, performed and conserved. Surprisingly
Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf did not list any church cantatas by Stölzel in his catalogues of 1761, 1764 and 1770.
Johann Kirnberger considered Stölzel to be one of the greatest contrapuntists, and illustrated his
Die Kunst des reinen Satzes with music by Stölzel.
C. P. E. Bach adopted several movements of Stölzel's
Sechs geistlichen Betrachtungen des leidenden und sterbenden Jesus in his 1771
Lukas-Passion and his 1772
Johannes-Passion pasticcios. After C. P. E. Bach's death in 1788 three of Stölzel's cantata cycles were found in his legacy. Reference works by
Johann Adam Hiller (1784) and
Ernst Ludwig Gerber (early 1790s) contain biographies of Stölzel. Pölchau edited Stölzel's
Missa canonica for thirteen real voices for publication in 1818. Pölchau offered a copy of this edition to
Carl Friedrich Zelter, leader of the
Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. In 1832 Pölchau published a selection of Stölzel's choral music. In the first half of the 19th century one of Stölzel's masses was copied by
Johann Gottfried Schicht, and, with the orchestral part arranged for organ by
Carl Ferdinand Becker, performed in Leipzig. Becker also arranged some of Stölzel's music for organ solo. The pieces from the Anna Magdalena and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach notebooks, "Bist du bei mir" and
Partita di Signore Steltzeln, were published by the
Bach Gesellschaft in the second half of the 19th century. Stölzel's solo cantata
Die Rose bleibt der Blumen Königin was published in 1884.
Arnold Schering published Stölzel's
Concerto Grosso a quattro Chori in 1907. The aria
BWV 200 was first published, as a composition by Johann Sebastian Bach, in 1935. The trio sonata in F minor for 2 violins or oboes and basso continuo was published in 1937. In 1938 Wolfgang Schmidt-Weiss wrote a thesis about Stölzel's instrumental music, which was published as a book in 1939. The 1940s and 1950s saw a number of score publications: • In 1942 a trio sonata for flute, violin and continuo was published. • In 1948 Merseburger published the cantata
Aus der Tiefe rufe ich (H. 442). • A Sonata for oboe, horn, violin and continuo was published around 1952. • The Concerto for Oboe, strings & continuo in D major was published in 1953, with a
piano reduction by G. Müller. • Hans Albrecht prepared the Christmas cantata
Kündlich gross ist das gottselige Geheimnis for publication in 1953, and edited the chorale and aria
Lob und Dank for publication in 1954. • A trio sonata for Flute, Violin and Harpsichord was published in 1955. • Around the mid-1950s Josef Bachmair edited two trio sonatas for two violins and continuo: the Sonata V and the Sonata in B-flat major. • Around the same time
Gotthold Frotscher published the trio sonatas in D major for flute, violin and continuo, and in G major for two flutes and continuo. The
New Bach Edition republished the three Bach-related pieces in the second half of the 20th century. The Concerto for Oboe and Violin in F major was published in 1963. In the 1970s Jean Thilde published, in a series named after
Maurice André, several compositions of the baroque era in an arrangement for trumpet, including, by Stölzel, the D major oboe concerto (1972), the F major double concerto (in 1975 with a piano reduction of the orchestral material and in 1976 with the orchestral score), a sonata in D major after the "Sonata V" for two violins (1976), a concertino in E minor (1976), a concerto in C (1976), and a concerto in B-flat (1976). In 1965 Fritz Hennenberg wrote a two-volume thesis about Stölzel's cantatas. In 1976 an updated version of that thesis was published in one volume as
Das Kantatenschaffen von Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel. An
Urtext edition of the G minor Oboe Concerto was published in 1979. The cantata
Ich bin beide was published in 1981. Stölzel's
O wie ist die Barmherzigkeit des Herrn so groß was published in 1989. Two sonatas, Nos. 3 and 4 of the eight sonatas à quattro for oboe, violin, horn and basso continuo collection, were published in 1993. Hofmeister published the fifth Sonata à Quattro for oboe, violin, horn and basso continuo in 2001. Stölzel's
Ave Regina,
Sind wir denn Kinder,
Ehre sei Gott, and a new edition of the 1725 cantata
Kündlich groß ist das gottselige Geheimnis were published in 2003. Stölzel's 1725 setting of the
Brockes-Passion was also published in the first decade of the 21st century. The 1772
St. John Passion pasticcio which included four movements by Stölzel was published as Vol. 7.1 in Series IV of C. P. E. Bach's complete works. In the 21st century facsimiles of large portions of Stölzel's work became available on websites such as those of the Berlin State Library and the Saxon State and University Library Dresden.
Recordings The vocal music that was published as part of the Bach legacy is frequently recorded: • "Bist du bei mir" is by far Stölzel's most often recorded piece of music. • BWV 200 has been recorded over 20 times since 1951.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau recorded the cantata
Aus der Tiefe rufe ich, Herr, zu Dir, H. 442, in the early 1950s, and again, for
Deutsche Grammophon, in 1965.
Erik van Nevel, conducting the
Ricercar Consort, recorded this cantata in 1991.
Günter Wand recorded the Concerto grosso a quattro chori in 1956.
Carl Schuricht's performance of the work at the
Salzburger Festspiele was recorded in 1961.
Maurice André performed the D major Oboe Concerto as a trumpet concerto, and recorded it several times, for example in the 1960s for
Philips, in 1977 with the
English Chamber Orchestra conducted by
Charles Mackerras, and in 1983 with the
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by
Neville Marriner. In 1971 he recorded Stölzel's Concerto Grosso a Quatri Chori with five other trumpetists,
Pierre Pierlot on the oboe and the
Jean-François Paillard Chamber Orchestra conducted by
Philippe Caillard. In 1980 André recorded the Sonata in D major, reconstructed and orchestrated by Thilde after Stölzel. André Bernard's recording of the D major trumpet concerto appeared in 1973. The Ricercar Consort recorded and released the of the Brussels Conservatory in 1988. Stölzel's
Brockes Passion, in a performance conducted by
Ludger Rémy, was recorded in 1997. Rémy also recorded ten (half) cantatas from the Christmas season 1736–37 in Sondershausen, released as
Christmas Oratorio on two CDs: • CD 1 (recorded May 1999): • for the first day of Christmas: •
Ach, dass die Hülfe aus Zion über Israel käme •
Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe • for the second day of Christmas: •
Ich sehe den Himmel offen •
Ihr sollt nicht wähnen • for the third day of Christmas: •
Kündlich gross ist das gottselige Geheimnis • CD 2 (recorded January 2000): • for the Sunday after Christmas: •
Das Alte is vergangen •
Das Ende eines Dinges ist besser denn sein Anfang • for New Year's Day: •
Alles, was ihr tut mit Worten oder Werken • for Epiphany: •
Danksaget dem Vater •
Wir haben ein festes prophetisches Wort Rémy's recordings of the 16 chamber cantatas were released on two CDs, in 2002 and 2004 respectively. C. P. E. Bach's 1772
Johannes-Passion pasticcio, containing some movements by Stölzel, was recorded in 2003. Rémy's
Cantatas for Pentecost CD was released in 2004, containing: • Three double cantatas for the Pentecost season of 1737: •
Werdet voll Geistes •
Siehe da, eine Hütte •
Wollte Gott, dass alle das Volk •
Daran ist erschienen die Liebe •
So denn ihr, die ihr arg seid •
Lehre mich tun nach deinem Wohlgefallen • Cantata
Er heisset Friedefürst for Quasimodogeniti Sunday 20 April 1732 Two CDs recorded by the Handel's Company conducted by Rainer Johannes Homburg contained the Epistle cantatas and the Gospel cantatas of the 1728
Christmas Oratorio respectively, along with a selection of other works by Stölzel: • Te Deum • Gospel cantatas from the 1728
Christmas Oratorio: •
Euch ist heute der Heiland geboren •
Denen zu Zion wird ein Erlöser kommen •
Herr, du weissest alle Dinge • Cantata
Gehet zu seinen Toren ein for New Year Rémy recorded the serenatas
Alles, was sonst lieblich heisset and
Seid wilkommen, schöne Stunden in 2007. The first decade of the 21st century saw new recordings, and reissues of older recordings, of the Concerto grosso a quatro chori and of the Trumpet Concerto in D major. Lajos Lencsés recorded Stölzel's oboe concerto in G minor in 2008. The nine Quadros (Sonatas à 4) for oboe, horn, violin and continuo were recorded in 2008. A recording of the version for two trumpets of the F major concerto was released in 2015. Chamber music for string instruments and continuo was recorded in 2009: • Sonata in C minor for two violins and basso continuo • Sonata a 4 in G major for violin, viola, violoncello and basso continuo • Sonata in B flat major for two violins and basso continuo • Quadro in E minor for two violins, violoncello and basso continuo • Sonata in D major for two violins and basso continuo • Sonata in E minor for two violins and basso continuo • Quadro in G major for two violins, violoncello and basso continuo The
Partia di Signore Steltzeln has been recorded, with inclusion of Bach's Trio BWV 929, on harpsichord, piano and organ. The
Enharmonische Claviersonate has been recorded on harpsichord. ==References==