Missa in Fletu Solatium Obsidionis Viennensis

After having conquered Hungary, the Ottomans reached the gates of Vienna on 14 July 1683 to the utter horror of all Christian Europeans. The Ottomans embarked on an intensive campaign of besiegement maintained with immense technical efforts and great expenditure of human resources. The besieged defended themselves as best they could with all possible means, but after several weeks, not only hunger and illness but also fear and terror were rife in the city. It soon became clear that Vienna would not be able to withstand the siege through its own efforts and help was therefore summoned. It took two months for the alliance of numerous Christian armies with a total military manpower of almost 60 000 to end the siege at the Battle of Kahlenberg in which the Ottoman forces were routed and driven away.

The composer Johann Kaspar Kerll personally experienced the siege at the gates of Vienna and, overwhelmed by his impressions, wrote a mass which was intended to provide "comfort in the lamentations on the siege of Vienna"; the Missa In fletu solatium obsidiensisViennensis. Johann Kaspar Kerll is by no means unknown among seventeenth-century composers. Modern dictionaries of music all mention him as an out-standing composer of organ works that are available in various new editions and can regularly be heard in concerts. It will therefore probably come as a surprise to most informed music-lovers that Kerll's contemporaries esteemed him above all for his sacred vocal compositions and chamber mu sic. The intention of the present recording is to acquaint a broader audience with this unknown side of Johann Kaspar Kerll. Missa In fletu solatium obsidionis Viennensis Sonata a3 - Ama cor meum a 4 - Triumphate sidera a 18 - Passacaglia in d - Tota pulchra es Maria a 10 - Canzona a 3 - Admiramini fideles a 2 - Angelorum esca a 12