• Tracks

With this CD, we present a composer who is almost completely unknown. An astonishing admission, because his work is well documented in Georg Forster's songbooks and his compositions have also been published in print. Georg Forster himself held vom Brandt in high esteem, so much so that he dedicated the third volume of his "Teutschen Liedlein" to him. This dedication emphasises Forster's high regard for vom Brandt, but he also made dedications to other composers. Forster dedicated Volume II to his former fellow student Eck, Volume IV to Stephan Zirler, and Volume V to Dietrich Schwarz von Haselbach, with whom he had been associated since his Heidelberg days. While on the one hand friendship was important to him, he did not lose sight of quality when he wrote that he had "picked out the loveliest and worst from all of them". Forster's collection is aimed at the "friend and lover of noble music", not at the professional musician. Hence, the focus on the fact that he had selected not only the "loveliest" but also the "worst" (in the sense of plain or simple). Forster underscores that Brandt "noch heut bey tags ein sonderlicher Liebhaber un(d) fürderer ist, unnd solchs auch selbs mit der that alß mit setzen oder Componiren... noch heut bey tag beweyset" (still today by day a special lover and fancier, and also proves this himself with the deed as with setting or composing... still today by day). It seemed remarkable that vom Brandt composed during the day, for composing was not his main occupation.