Residency – Opening concert: Lumen Germaniae
Sacred Music from Heinrich Schütz, Samuel Scheidt, Thomas Selle and Andreas Hammerschmidt

The music of Giovanni Gabrieli, the master of multiple choirs, was legendary. On high days he would shower sound down on the distinguished congregation of Venice’s St Mark’s Basilica from every corner, an effect his student Heinrich Schütz was more than happy to take home with him to the splendid German courts. Schütz’s collection of sacred choral music Psalms of David soon became legendary too: everyone performed it. To mark the 350th anniversary of Schütz’s death, resident artist Vox Luminis pay a resounding tribute to this German Baroque composer.

Maximum musical enjoyment is guaranteed when Vox Luminis, artist in residence of the Schütz Year 2022, interprets multi-choral and sumptuous works by Schütz alongside compositions by contemporaries such as Schein, Scheidt and Selle as well as works by important Italian models of the Sagittarius. In the festive concert, however, the ensemble stretches the musical arc even further: to Thuringia, where the members of the Bach family (before Johann Sebastian Bach) were among Schütz’s most important colleagues.

Für das Konzert in Zeitz wiederum wenden sich die Musikerinnen und Musiker von Vox Luminis den Symphoniae Sacrae III von Schütz zu. Die klangschönen Kompositionen seiner Meisterschüler David Pohle (ab 1678 in Zeitz und ab 1682 in Merseburg tätig), Johann Theile (ab 1694 musikalischer Berater des Herzogs von Zeitz) und Christoph Bernhard (ab 1680 Hofkapellmeister in Dresden) berühren nicht weniger die Herzen der Menschen und tragen Botschaften voller Strahlkraft und Menschlichkeit in sich.

In the winter of 1704, he walked the 400 km from Arnstadt to the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, to meet the famed organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude. The journey starts in Arnstadt, native town of Johann Michael Bach (1648-1694) as well as Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703). Hearing Christ lag in Todes Banden in this light—Buxtehude’s chorale cantatas, with the dialogical nature of Johann Christoph’s and Johann Michael’s music—might therefore help inform our understanding of Bach.
While we still know so little about the man, this programme allows us to hear how his music came to be, and hints at what it would become.

The mission of the music according to the seconda prattica described by Claudio Monteverdi, is to express and amplify the emotional content. In the 16th and beginning of the 17th century the city of Venice was under the spell of Claudio Monteverdi; this program deals with his sacred music taken from Selva Morale e Spirituale, an anthology of important pieces that Monteverdi composed during his long career in the Patriarchal Basilica of St Mark in Venice. In 1603 Monteverdi is assigned Chapel Master at St Mark; having lost his spouse Claudia in 1608 and his son in 1632, he took holy orders and after more than ten years, he publishes his testament of religious music : Selva Morale e Spirituale. In the middle of this dense wood of sounds, one voice comes up and takes the lead

In the winter of 1704, he walked the 400 km from Arnstadt to the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, to meet the famed organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude. The journey starts in Arnstadt, native town of Johann Michael Bach (1648-1694) as well as Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703). Hearing Christ lag in Todes Banden in this light—Buxtehude’s chorale cantatas, with the dialogical nature of Johann Christoph’s and Johann Michael’s music—might therefore help inform our understanding of Bach.
While we still know so little about the man, this programme allows us to hear how his music came to be, and hints at what it would become.

The mission of the music according to the seconda prattica described by Claudio Monteverdi, is to express and amplify the emotional content. In the 16th and beginning of the 17th century the city of Venice was under the spell of Claudio Monteverdi; this program deals with his sacred music taken from Selva Morale e Spirituale, an anthology of important pieces that Monteverdi composed during his long career in the Patriarchal Basilica of St Mark in Venice. In 1603 Monteverdi is assigned Chapel Master at St Mark; having lost his spouse Claudia in 1608 and his son in 1632, he took holy orders and after more than ten years, he publishes his testament of religious music : Selva Morale e Spirituale. In the middle of this dense wood of sounds, one voice comes up and takes the lead

The mission of the music according to the seconda prattica described by Claudio Monteverdi, is to express and amplify the emotional content. In the 16th and beginning of the 17th century the city of Venice was under the spell of Claudio Monteverdi; this program deals with his sacred music taken from Selva Morale e Spirituale, an anthology of important pieces that Monteverdi composed during his long career in the Patriarchal Basilica of St Mark in Venice. In 1603 Monteverdi is assigned Chapel Master at St Mark; having lost his spouse Claudia in 1608 and his son in 1632, he took holy orders and after more than ten years, he publishes his testament of religious music : Selva Morale e Spirituale. In the middle of this dense wood of sounds, one voice comes up and takes the lead

In the winter of 1704, he walked the 400 km from Arnstadt to the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, to meet the famed organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude. The journey starts in Arnstadt, native town of Johann Michael Bach (1648-1694) as well as Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703). Hearing Christ lag in Todes Banden in this light—Buxtehude’s chorale cantatas, with the dialogical nature of Johann Christoph’s and Johann Michael’s music—might therefore help inform our understanding of Bach.
While we still know so little about the man, this programme allows us to hear how his music came to be, and hints at what it would become.

The mission of the music according to the seconda prattica described by Claudio Monteverdi, is to express and amplify the emotional content. In the 16th and beginning of the 17th century the city of Venice was under the spell of Claudio Monteverdi; this program deals with his sacred music taken from Selva Morale e Spirituale, an anthology of important pieces that Monteverdi composed during his long career in the Patriarchal Basilica of St Mark in Venice. In 1603 Monteverdi is assigned Chapel Master at St Mark; having lost his spouse Claudia in 1608 and his son in 1632, he took holy orders and after more than ten years, he publishes his testament of religious music : Selva Morale e Spirituale. In the middle of this dense wood of sounds, one voice comes up and takes the lead

In the winter of 1704, he walked the 400 km from Arnstadt to the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, to meet the famed organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude. The journey starts in Arnstadt, native town of Johann Michael Bach (1648-1694) as well as Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703). Hearing Christ lag in Todes Banden in this light—Buxtehude’s chorale cantatas, with the dialogical nature of Johann Christoph’s and Johann Michael’s music—might therefore help inform our understanding of Bach.
While we still know so little about the man, this programme allows us to hear how his music came to be, and hints at what it would become.

In the winter of 1704, he walked the 400 km from Arnstadt to the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, to meet the famed organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude. The journey starts in Arnstadt, native town of Johann Michael Bach (1648-1694) as well as Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703). Hearing Christ lag in Todes Banden in this light—Buxtehude’s chorale cantatas, with the dialogical nature of Johann Christoph’s and Johann Michael’s music—might therefore help inform our understanding of Bach.
While we still know so little about the man, this programme allows us to hear how his music came to be, and hints at what it would become.

The mission of the music according to the seconda prattica described by Claudio Monteverdi, is to express and amplify the emotional content. In the 16th and beginning of the 17th century the city of Venice was under the spell of Claudio Monteverdi; this program deals with his sacred music taken from Selva Morale e Spirituale, an anthology of important pieces that Monteverdi composed during his long career in the Patriarchal Basilica of St Mark in Venice. In 1603 Monteverdi is assigned Chapel Master at St Mark; having lost his spouse Claudia in 1608 and his son in 1632, he took holy orders and after more than ten years, he publishes his testament of religious music : Selva Morale e Spirituale. In the middle of this dense wood of sounds, one voice comes up and takes the lead

The mission of the music according to the seconda prattica described by Claudio Monteverdi, is to express and amplify the emotional content. In the 16th and beginning of the 17th century the city of Venice was under the spell of Claudio Monteverdi; this program deals with his sacred music taken from Selva Morale e Spirituale, an anthology of important pieces that Monteverdi composed during his long career in the Patriarchal Basilica of St Mark in Venice. In 1603 Monteverdi is assigned Chapel Master at St Mark; having lost his spouse Claudia in 1608 and his son in 1632, he took holy orders and after more than ten years, he publishes his testament of religious music : Selva Morale e Spirituale. In the middle of this dense wood of sounds, one voice comes up and takes the lead

Heinrich Schütz: Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz SWV 478
Giovanni Legrenzi: Sonata a 4 / aus: La cetra op. 10
Giovanni Legrenzi: Dies irae, Prosa pro mortuis
Johann Kaspar Kerll: Missa pro defunctis (Requiem)

Heinrich Schütz: Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz SWV 478
Giovanni Legrenzi: Sonata a 4 / aus: La cetra op. 10
Giovanni Legrenzi: Dies irae, Prosa pro mortuis
Johann Kaspar Kerll: Missa pro defunctis (Requiem)

Heinrich Schütz: Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz SWV 478
Giovanni Legrenzi: Sonata a 4 / aus: La cetra op. 10
Giovanni Legrenzi: Dies irae, Prosa pro mortuis
Johann Kaspar Kerll: Missa pro defunctis (Requiem)

Heinrich Schütz: Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz SWV 478
Giovanni Legrenzi: Sonata a 4 / aus: La cetra op. 10
Giovanni Legrenzi: Dies irae, Prosa pro mortuis
Johann Kaspar Kerll: Missa pro defunctis (Requiem)

At the centre is the colourful Christmas story of Heinrich Schütz, the grand master of the German early Baroque, who died 350 years ago. Trained in Venice, he brilliantly adapted the new Italian style to the German language. In his Weihnachtshistorie, everything is covered: the stable, the star, the angels, the shepherds and the Wise Men from the East.

In addition, the internationally renowned ensemble conducted by Lionel Meunier performs several German Christmas motets by Schütz and by his younger contemporary Andreas Hammerschmidt. The superb, eighteen-voice Magnificat by Johann Rosenmüller, who like Schütz was trained in Venice, is a masterpiece to finish this Christmas programme.

Instinctively and apparently effortlessly, Lionel Meunier and the singers of Vox Luminis get right to the rhetorical heart of the music time and time again. Together with the Freiburger Barockorchester, this time they present a virtuoso Christmas concert to warm you up. Alongside the exuberant and jubilant Magnificat by Bach, two colourful works by his predecessor Johann Kuhnau are also on the programme. So you can go out into the Christmas night fully charged.

Instinctively and apparently effortlessly, Lionel Meunier and the singers of Vox Luminis get right to the rhetorical heart of the music time and time again. Together with the Freiburger Barockorchester, this time they present a virtuoso Christmas concert to warm you up. Alongside the exuberant and jubilant Magnificat by Bach, two colourful works by his predecessor Johann Kuhnau are also on the programme. So you can go out into the Christmas night fully charged.

Instinctively and apparently effortlessly, Lionel Meunier and the singers of Vox Luminis get right to the rhetorical heart of the music time and time again. Together with the Freiburger Barockorchester, this time they present a virtuoso Christmas concert to warm you up. Alongside the exuberant and jubilant Magnificat by Bach, two colourful works by his predecessor Johann Kuhnau are also on the programme. So you can go out into the Christmas night fully charged.

Instinctively and apparently effortlessly, Lionel Meunier and the singers of Vox Luminis get right to the rhetorical heart of the music time and time again. Together with the Freiburger Barockorchester, this time they present a virtuoso Christmas concert to warm you up. Alongside the exuberant and jubilant Magnificat by Bach, two colourful works by his predecessor Johann Kuhnau are also on the programme. So you can go out into the Christmas night fully charged.

Instinctively and apparently effortlessly, Lionel Meunier and the singers of Vox Luminis get right to the rhetorical heart of the music time and time again. Together with the Freiburger Barockorchester, this time they present a virtuoso Christmas concert to warm you up. Alongside the exuberant and jubilant Magnificat by Bach, two colourful works by his predecessor Johann Kuhnau are also on the programme. So you can go out into the Christmas night fully charged.

Instinctively and apparently effortlessly, Lionel Meunier and the singers of Vox Luminis get right to the rhetorical heart of the music time and time again. Together with the Freiburger Barockorchester, this time they present a virtuoso Christmas concert to warm you up. Alongside the exuberant and jubilant Magnificat by Bach, two colourful works by his predecessor Johann Kuhnau are also on the programme. So you can go out into the Christmas night fully charged.

Instinctively and apparently effortlessly, Lionel Meunier and the singers of Vox Luminis get right to the rhetorical heart of the music time and time again. Together with the Freiburger Barockorchester, this time they present a virtuoso Christmas concert to warm you up. Alongside the exuberant and jubilant Magnificat by Bach, two colourful works by his predecessor Johann Kuhnau are also on the programme. So you can go out into the Christmas night fully charged.

Instinctively and apparently effortlessly, Lionel Meunier and the singers of Vox Luminis get right to the rhetorical heart of the music time and time again. Together with the Freiburger Barockorchester, this time they present a virtuoso Christmas concert to warm you up. Alongside the exuberant and jubilant Magnificat by Bach, two colourful works by his predecessor Johann Kuhnau are also on the programme. So you can go out into the Christmas night fully charged.

At the centre is the colourful Christmas story of Heinrich Schütz, the grand master of the German early Baroque, who died 350 years ago. Trained in Venice, he brilliantly adapted the new Italian style to the German language. In his Weihnachtshistorie, everything is covered: the stable, the star, the angels, the shepherds and the Wise Men from the East.

In addition, the internationally renowned ensemble conducted by Lionel Meunier performs several German Christmas motets by Schütz and by his younger contemporary Andreas Hammerschmidt. The superb, eighteen-voice Magnificat by Johann Rosenmüller, who like Schütz was trained in Venice, is a masterpiece to finish this Christmas programme.