Zelenka Miserere in C minor ZWV57

Vocal Score edited by Matthias Hutzel and Thomas Kohlhase

Jan Dismas Zelenka’s musical setting of Psalm 50, “Miserere mei Deus,” was presumably intended for the 1738 Holy Week. Thus, the composition is situated chronologically between the Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis (1736)* and the Missa votiva (1739), two compositions from the cycle of Zelenka’s five late masses, considered the culmination of his sacred-music work. Strong contrasts are a conspicuous stylistic feature of the Miserere c-moll, which Zelenka moderates by embedding them within the entire work’s cyclic arch form. The score and parts of this new edition are based on volume 108 of the series “Das Erbe deutscher Musik,”  which was comprehensively revised by Wolfgang Horn in 2018, especially the preface and the critical report.