Event

As it did last year, SCHOLA HEIDELBERG spans six centuries of music to bring the pre-Christmas season to life.

The program features, in particular, psalm settings that were characteristic of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, whether in Latin, German, English, French, or even Hebrew: Salomone Rossi, a colleague and friend of the great Monteverdi, set the biblical psalms to music in the polyphonic style of the Renaissance for the services of his Jewish congregation in Mantua – an absolute rarity in music history.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was also a figure who bridged Jewish and Christian traditions. His deep familiarity with early vocal music is evident in Adspice Domine for male choir, cello, and organ. Psalms and other biblical texts continued to serve as the starting point for compositions well into the 20th century – as in Arnold Schoenberg’s De profundis – and right up to the present day. But via Johann Sebastian Bach, Henry Purcell, and Cipriano de Rore, we return to earlier eras and conclude the Advent concert with one of the most beautiful Advent chorales, "O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf."

Program

(Gregorian) - De profundis
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562–1621) - Du fonds de ma pensée (Psalm 130)
Arnold Schönberg (1875–1951) – De profundis (Psalm 130), Op. 50b
Claude le Jeune (1530–1600) – Or peut bien dir’ Israel (Psalm 124)
Salomone Rossi (c. 1570–c. 1630) – Psalm 124
Giacobo Basevi, known as Cervetto – Adagio – Allegro sostenuto (from: Sonata XII in D minor)
Ernst Krenek (1900–1991) – The Fall of Man (Kafka Motet No. 5)
Salomone Rossi – Psalm 80
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847) – Adspice Domine, Op. 121
Henry Purcell (c. 1659–1695) – O Lord God of Hosts (Psalm 80)
Cipriano de Rore (c. 1515–1565) – Beatus vir (Psalm 112)
Salomone Rossi – Psalm 112
Johannes Fritsch (1941–2010) – Ecclesiastes 3:4
(Gregorian) – Miserere mihi, Domine
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) – Have Mercy on Me, O Lord God, BWV 721
Michael Praetorius (1571–1621) – A Rose Has Sprung Forth
Chorale – O Savior, Tear Open the Heavens

Performers

Soprano
Coco Lau
Clémence Boullu

Alto
Julie Catherine
Barbara Ostertag

Tenor
Daniel Tepper
Hubert Mayer

Bass
Florian Drexel
Luciano Lodi

Organ - J. Marc Reichow
Cello - Sebastian Triebener