In Rosenmüller’s
Ascendit Christus in altum the process of simplifying and clarifying the musical thought is taken carefully. It consists of a joyful triple-time passage that encloses a brief recitative and a duple-time strophic aria. Though a German, Rosenmüller worked for more than twenty years in Venice, an exile from his native Leipzig as the result of a homosexual scandal. It is pleasant to record, however, that in old age he returned to his native land to become the honoured Kapellmeister of the Wolfenbüttel court. Although
Ascendit Christus in altum only survives in a German source, it was almost certainly written during his time in Venice.
from notes by Peter Holman © 2001
;)
