Amens — 619. Dresden Amen
A cadence, or ending, much used in ecclesiastical music in the Royal Chapel of Dresden (common also throughout Saxony). Wagner immortalized it in his Parsifal and the tune also appears in Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony, Stanford’s Service in B flat, and elsewhere.
The composer, Johann Gottlieb Naumann (or Giovanni Amadeo), 1741-1801, well-known musician in his day, was born at Blasewitz, near Dresden, the son of peasant parents. He was a successful opera composer in Saxony, Italy, Sweden, and Prussia. Naumann was also a prolific composer of church music: 13 oratorios, 21 masses with Te Deums, and smaller church pieces. Some of his compositions are still in use. His best known single work known beyond Dresden is his setting of Klopstock’s Vater unser.