digital experience

“Listen, My Beloved“ – Chagall Concerts 2019

For many years, “Music in Fraumünster” and the ensemble cantissimo have been working closely together.
For its 25th anniversary in 2019, ensemble cantissimo chose masterful settings of the “Song of Songs” from Early Baroque to the present and juxtaposed them with improvisations for flute.
In the “Song of Solomon,” many aspects of love and relationships between two people, such as longing, affection, abandonment, eroticism and passion, are intertwined with the relationship between God and man. In addition to their significance in a biblical context, these poems contribute to the foundation of Western culture. Through their highly emotional and vivid language, they have stimulated the imagination and creativity of composers across the centuries.

Matthias Ziegler
(*1955)

Improvisation «Praeludium»

Melchior Franck
(1573–1639)

Fünf Hohelied-Motetten (1608)

1. Meine Schwester, liebe Braut
2. Ich sucht des Nachts in meinem Bette
3. Fahet uns die Füchse

Melchior Franck was a prolific and influential German composer of the Late Renaissance and Early Baroque eras. With evocative imagery and tonal language, his Song of Songs Motets represent some of the most remarkable examples of sacred works of his time. Listeners are reminded that the passionate texts resonate on both mortal and divine levels.

Sven-David Sandström
(1942-2019)

Four Songs of Love (2008)

2. Until The Daybreak
3. Awake, O Northwind
4. His Left Hand

The Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström created the Four Songs of Love in 2008. The musical rendering of the text is reminiscent of Renaissance compositions. The basic dynamic level lingers in various shades of quiet, as if from far away or in a dream; intensification and high points emerge out of this quiet.

Claude Debussy
(1862–1918)

Syrinx für Flöte

Meret Mayer

Lesung Text Chagall

Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur
(1908–2002)

Le Cantique des Cantiques

Kantate für 12-stimmigen gemischten Chor (1952)
2. La Voix du Bien-Aimé
4. Le Roi Salomon

Flöten-Improvisation
7. Epithalame

Lesur shared Messiaen’s conviction that sensual love and divine love were not mutually exclusive, but rather complemented and even strengthened one another. His seven-part a cappella cantata is a brilliant testimony to this principle.

Heinrich Isaac
(1450–1517)

Innsbruck, ich muss Dich lassen

Performing musicians

Meret Meyer, Reading

Matthias Ziegler, Flute

ensemble cantissimo

Soprano
Iris-Anna Deckert*, Anna Gschwend*, Jin Kim, Deborah Bernet, Margot Roller, Manuela Eichenlaub, Verena Schmidt

Alto
Rebecca Heudorfer*, Alexandra Busch*, Hana Katsenes, Julia Werner, Ursula Ebner, Mareike Peissner

Tenor
Berthold Schindler*, Jo Holzwart*, Zacharie Fogal*, Philipp Claßen, Akeo Hasegawa, Hannes Wagner

Bass
Simon Amend*, Malte Fial*, Andreas Meixner, Matthias Begemann, Roland Faust, Friedemann Luz

(*Solisten)

Conductor

Markus Utz