Share this article Share
As the Plague and the Thirty Years’ War left a trail of death and destruction across Europe, Heinrich Schütz, one of the most important German composers prior to Johann Sebastian Bach, wrote his Musikalische Exequien. Based on his personal experience – having lost his parents, his wife and later his two daughters in a short period of time –, Schütz composed a deeply felt meditation on bereavement and mourning for a force of a few soloists and a small choir. Instead of reverting to the usual Latin requiem, he set to music a collection of short liturgical texts in the vernacular, about grief, comfort and forgiveness.
In this twenty-first-century interpretation, director Peter Sellars and the Los Angeles Master Chorale perform this moving work as a tender ceremony of remembrance and mourning. Ethereal choral passages offer comfort and contemplation, solos an intimate but shared moment of grief. Until, in a minimalist choreography, the life of the bereaved finally picks up its rhythm. Trusting that what seems so far away is always near.
Create your own flexible Vocalissimo subscription with your five favourite recitals (or more) and you enjoy a 25 % discount in addition to a host of benefits.