Jakob Stämpfli (bass)
Encyclopedia
Jakob Stämpfli is a Swiss bass
concert singer
and an influential academic teacher and director of the conservatory in Bern, also a teacher in Saarbrücken
.
with Paul Lohmann.
His first recording was in 1955 the bass part of Bach's Christmas Oratorio
with the Thomanerchor
conducted by Günther Ramin
. Stämpfli's repertoire includes all the oratorios of Johann Sebastian Bach
and more than one hundred Bach cantata
s. He recorded especially with the Gächinger Kantorei
and Helmuth Rilling
, including rarely performed cantatas such as, in 1967, the reconstructed Entfliehet, verschwindet, entweichet, ihr Sorgen, BWV 249a
, also called Shepherd cantata. Also in 1967 he recorded the bass arias of Bach's St Matthew Passion with Hans Swarowsky
, the Vienna Academy Chamber Choir and the Wiener Sängerknaben
, the Vienna State Symphony Orchestra, Heather Harper
and Kurt Equiluz
singing both the Evangelist
and the arias. Jakob Stämpfli recorded Bach cantatas with Karl Ristenpart
, also Bach's Magnificat
and two of Bach's Missae breves
with Maurice André
, trumpet. A review of Bach cantatas recorded with conductor Fritz Werner
credits his singing: "The magnificent bass aria, ‘Der alte Drache brennt vor Neid’, in which soloist Jakob Stämpfli is accompanied by timpani and no less than three trumpets, is powerfully conveyed; Stämpfli is in commanding form".
In 1963 he recorded Frank Martin
's oratorio
for soloists, choruses & orchestra In Terra Pax, written in 1944, with Ernest Ansermet
conducting the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
.
Jakob Stämpfli was a teacher at the Conservatory of Biel (1960–1962) and at the Bern Conservatory for music and theatre from 1963 where he was appointed director in 1992. He has also taught at the Hochschule für Musik Saar in Saarbrücken and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg
. He has given international master classes and served as a judge for vocal competitions. His students have included Klaus Mertens
, Siegmund Nimsgern
and Dominik Wörner.
From 2005 until 2007 he directed the festival Bachwochen Thun – Amsoldingen. In 2007 the festival presented a performance of Bach's Mass in B minor with the ten singers of the Cantus Firmus Vokalensemble in the church of Amsoldingen
. He is acting chairman of the Swiss Music Pedagogic Association
.
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
concert singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
and an influential academic teacher and director of the conservatory in Bern, also a teacher in Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
.
Biography
Jakob Stämpfli studied voice at the Bern Conservatory with Jakob Keller and at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am MainFrankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts
The Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts is a state Hochschule for Music, Theater and Dance in Frankfurt and is the only one of its kind in the Federal State of Hesse. It was founded in 1938....
with Paul Lohmann.
His first recording was in 1955 the bass part of Bach's Christmas Oratorio
Christmas Oratorio
The Christmas Oratorio BWV 248, is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 incorporating music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a...
with the Thomanerchor
Thomanerchor
The Thomanerchor is a boys' choir in Leipzig, Germany. The choir was founded in 1212. At present, the choir consists of 92 boys from 9 to 18 years of age...
conducted by Günther Ramin
Günther Ramin
Günther Werner Hans Ramín was an influential German organist, conductor, composer and pedagogue in the first half of the 20th century....
. Stämpfli's repertoire includes all the oratorios of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and more than one hundred Bach cantata
Bach cantata
Bach cantata became a term for a cantata of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was a prolific writer of the genre. Although many of his works are lost, around 200 cantatas survived....
s. He recorded especially with the Gächinger Kantorei
Gächinger Kantorei
Gächinger Kantorei is an internationally known German mixed choir, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1954 in Gächingen and still conducted by him. A "Kantorei" is a choir of high standard dedicated mostly, but not exclusively, to sacred music. The ensemble operates in Stuttgart now and is therefore...
and Helmuth Rilling
Helmuth Rilling
Helmuth Rilling is an internationally known German choral conductor, founder of the Gächinger Kantorei , the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , the Oregon Bach Festival , the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart and other Bach Academies worldwide, and the "Festival Ensemble Stuttgart"...
, including rarely performed cantatas such as, in 1967, the reconstructed Entfliehet, verschwindet, entweichet, ihr Sorgen, BWV 249a
Entfliehet, verschwindet, entweichet, ihr Sorgen, BWV 249a
Entfliehet, verschwindet, entweichet, ihr Sorgen , BWV 249a, is a secular cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, first performed in 1725, also known as Shepherd cantata...
, also called Shepherd cantata. Also in 1967 he recorded the bass arias of Bach's St Matthew Passion with Hans Swarowsky
Hans Swarowsky
Hans Swarowsky was an Austrian conductor of Hungarian birth and Jewish descent.Swarowsky was born in Budapest, Hungary. He studied the art of conducting under Felix Weingartner and Richard Strauss...
, the Vienna Academy Chamber Choir and the Wiener Sängerknaben
Vienna Boys' Choir
The Vienna Boys' Choir is a choir of trebles and altos based in Vienna. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries....
, the Vienna State Symphony Orchestra, Heather Harper
Heather Harper
Heather Harper CBE is a Northern Ireland-born British operatic soprano.She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1930, where she received her early musical training...
and Kurt Equiluz
Kurt Equiluz
Kurt Equiluz is an Austrian classical tenor in opera and concert, known for recording works of Johann Sebastian Bach with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Helmuth Rilling, a member of the Vienna State Opera as a tenor buffo from 1957 until 1983.- Professional career :Kurt Equiluz was an alto soloist of...
singing both the Evangelist
Evangelist (Bach)
The Evangelist in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is the tenor part in his oratorios and Passions who narrates the exact words of the Bible, translated by Martin Luther, in recitative, namely in the works St John Passion, St Matthew Passion, and the Christmas Oratorio, also in the St Mark...
and the arias. Jakob Stämpfli recorded Bach cantatas with Karl Ristenpart
Karl Ristenpart
Karl Ristenpart was a German conductor.Born in Kiel, Germany, he studied at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin and in Vienna. He was heavily involved in creating three orchestras in his lifetime, most notably the Chamber Orchestra of the Saar. With this group he created one of the recorded...
, also Bach's Magnificat
Magnificat (Bach)
The Magnificat in D major, BWV 243, is a major vocal work of Johann Sebastian Bach. It was composed for orchestra, a five-part choir and four or five soloists. The text is the canticle of Mary, mother of Jesus, as told by Luke the Evangelist .Bach composed an initial version in E flat major in 1723...
and two of Bach's Missae breves
Missa (Bach)
A Missa of Johann Sebastian Bach is in general a composition of the Latin Mass by the German Baroque composer.More specifically, Missa refers to one of his four short masses in F major, A major, G minor and G major, BWV 233 to 236...
with Maurice André
Maurice André
Maurice André is a French trumpeter, active in the classical music field.-Biography:He is a classical virtuoso trumpeter, born in Alès, France in the Cévennes into a mining family. His father was an amateur musician....
, trumpet. A review of Bach cantatas recorded with conductor Fritz Werner
Fritz Werner
Fritz Werner was a German choral conductor, church music director, conductor, organist and composer...
credits his singing: "The magnificent bass aria, ‘Der alte Drache brennt vor Neid’, in which soloist Jakob Stämpfli is accompanied by timpani and no less than three trumpets, is powerfully conveyed; Stämpfli is in commanding form".
In 1963 he recorded Frank Martin
Frank Martin (composer)
Frank Martin was a Swiss composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands.-Childhood and youth:...
's oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
for soloists, choruses & orchestra In Terra Pax, written in 1944, with Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Alexandre Ansermet was a Swiss conductor.- Biography :Ansermet was born in Vevey, Switzerland. Although he was a contemporary of Wilhelm Furtwängler and Otto Klemperer, Ansermet represents in most ways a very different tradition and approach from those two musicians. Originally he was a...
conducting the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall...
.
Jakob Stämpfli was a teacher at the Conservatory of Biel (1960–1962) and at the Bern Conservatory for music and theatre from 1963 where he was appointed director in 1992. He has also taught at the Hochschule für Musik Saar in Saarbrücken and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg
Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg
The Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg is one of the larger universities of music in Germany.It was founded 1950 as Staatliche Hochschule für Musik on the base of the former private acting school of Annemarie Marks-Rocke and Eduard Marks.Studies include various music types from church music...
. He has given international master classes and served as a judge for vocal competitions. His students have included Klaus Mertens
Klaus Mertens
Klaus Mertens is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach.-Professional career:Klaus Mertens took singing lessons while attending school...
, Siegmund Nimsgern
Siegmund Nimsgern
Siegmund Nimsgern is a German bass-baritone, born in Sankt Wendel, Saarland, Germany.After leaving school in 1960 he studied singing and musical education at the Hochschule für Musik Saar with Sibylle Fuchs, Jakob Stämpfli and Paul Lohmann.He made his debut at the Saarländisches Staatstheater in...
and Dominik Wörner.
From 2005 until 2007 he directed the festival Bachwochen Thun – Amsoldingen. In 2007 the festival presented a performance of Bach's Mass in B minor with the ten singers of the Cantus Firmus Vokalensemble in the church of Amsoldingen
Amsoldingen
Amsoldingen is a municipality in the Thun administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Amsoldingen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 60.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 21.9% is forested...
. He is acting chairman of the Swiss Music Pedagogic Association
Swiss Music Pedagogic Association
The Swiss Music Pedagogic Association is the umbrella organisation of music educators, pedagogues and music teachers in...
.
External links
- Jakob Stämpfli on the website of the Laudate-Chor Thun (in German)
- Jakob Stämpfli on the website of the Oratorienchor der Stadt Bern, 2000 (in German)
- Entries for recordings by Jakob Stämpfli on WorldCatWorldCatWorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...