Repertoire

Johann Schelle is mainly remembered for composing sacred cantatas to German texts. He was born into a musical family—his father was himself a Cantor—and at age 7 he entered the choir of the Dresden electoral chapel under the great composer Heinrich Schütz. When his voice broke, he went to study in Leipzig at the School of St. Thomas, and later at the university. When his former teac her Sebastian Knüpfer died, Schelle succeeded him as Cantor of the Church of St. Thomas (1677-1701), a post later held by Johann Sebastian Bach. His appointment was made against the wishes of the city mayor, who remained antagonistic to him and the changes he introduced in the musical content of services. The matter came to a head when Schelle replaced the Latin compositions written by Italian masters with music to German texts, especially cantatas. When the city council finally took Schelle’s side on the problem Schelle started the practice of introducing into the Protestant liturgy in Leipzig not only the Gospel cantata to German texts but later the chorale cantata, too. This remains one of his most important achievements.