The men's vocal ensemble Amarcord was founded in Leipzig in 1992 by former members of the boys' choir of Thomaskirche, the church where
J.S. Bach served for most of his career. The group has an unusually broad repertoire, ranging from early music to premieres of new works, and encompassing all the eras in between. Here they turn their attention to a genre that's all but forgotten -- Romantic German part-songs for men's voices -- focusing exclusively on works connected to Leipzig, where in the first half of the nineteenth century societies of male singers were a popular form of entertainment. The composers include major figures of the era,
Schumann and
Mendelssohn, less familiar composers such as
Heinrich Marschner, as well as some who are virtually unknown to modern audiences:
Carl Steinacker,
Heinrich Leberecht August Mühling,
Carl Friedrich Zöllner, and
Adolf Eduard Marschner. The songs, performed here with one singer to a part, have a sound that is unlike quite any other. These are not hale and hearty German folk songs; they are composed with great ingenuity and inspiration, and frequently, a goofy but sophisticated wit. (A prime example of this last type is
Zöllner's Der Speisezettel, a setting of a menu from a tavern popular with young musicians, complete with ecstatic interjections of "ummm!" and "aaah!" as the delicacies are described.) The men's voices in close harmony, singing homophonically, sometimes foreshadow the sound of barbershop quartets, but with considerably more subtlety in harmony and voice leading. The songs themselves are consistently of the highest quality; they cast new light on the personalities of
Schumann (who would have thought he could be so funny?) and
Mendelssohn, and in the case of
Carl Steinacker, reveal what might have developed into a major talent had he not died so young.