Bach and Schütz | New Cambridge Singers

Two intense musical expressions of grief and hope form the programme for our first post-Covid performance. Bach’s extraordinarily architectural motet alternates verses from the eponymous chorale (words by Johann Franck to a melody by Johann Crüger), harmonised in a variety of ways which are designed to reflect the texts, with words from the Epistle to the Romans. Heinrich Schütz was commissioned to write his Musikalische Exequien (Musical Requiem) for the funeral services of Count Henry II of Reuss-Gera. It offers a remarkable variety of styles and textures, most notably in its final motet which is scored for 5-part choir with three off-stage soloists, marked as cherubim in the score.