Forkel, Kress, Kummel, Rudorff & Schweinitz: Gottinger Weiha

How science and art cross-fertilize can be studied in the city of Göttingen in the late 18th century. Founded in 1734, the university there is not one of the oldest in Germany, but it is still one of the most popular. And it brought a heyday precisely in music as well. Johann Friedrich Schweinitz was one of the first law students in Göttingen; he had previously been a member of the Bach Collegium musicum in Leipzig and had personally experienced the old Johann Sebastian. In general, he was probably more interested in music than in law and made it his task to coordinate the Göttingen university music and to lead it to its peak, for which he also worked diligently as a composer.

The Christmas Cantata is one of his greatest works, and the influence of Bach as a role model can be felt in them. His successors expanded the stylistic spectrum, and thus, supplemented by symphonic works, a colorful picture of Göttingen's musical life on the threshold from the Baroque to the Classical era emerges.