'Roellig in charge': a reassessment of the cantata repertoire in Zerbst between 1749 and 1765

From his appointment in 1722 to the court of Anhalt-Zerbst, one of the chief responsibilities of Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) was the provision and direction of music for worship in the court chapel, for which he composed a sizeable proportion of the repertoire. In time, the court organist, Johann George Roellig (1710-1790, appointed 1737), proved himself to be an able composer who also provided cantata cycles, cantatas for Apostle days, figural music and Passion music for performance in the Schloßkirche. While there is no documentary evidence to this effect, the now considerable circumstantial evidence to suggest that Fasch delegated responsibility for music in the court chapel to Roellig from around 1755 is examined.
The discussion examines the repertoire of the chapel between 1749 and 1765, assessing the impact of Roellig’s leadership on the repertoire in the last years of Fasch’s Kapellmeistership. Highlighted is the identification of previously unknown repeat performance of Uffenbach’s texts and other cantata cyckes, as well as previously unexamined connections between the Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch Potsdam cantatas and Zerbst.