Recorder consort

War, peace and sorrow

War and peace, two situations that are as important in human history as day and night.
The programmatic musical genre ‘Battaglia’ emerged during the Renaissance. The question is ‘how do you imitate war with voices or instruments?’. We play the first war song ever by Clément Janequin.
However, besides jolly and fiery music, there is also music representing the sorrow, healing and peace. Because these concepts belong to war too . With Ignaz von Biber we hear the drunken jolly soldiers and the sorrow.
And with Beethoven the grief of the marching soldiers. With Muffat we heal the wounds, after which we have time for commemoration, a War Requiem by my own hand. Today, there are still wars all over the world. I have brought the music of war-stricken countries together to express hope for the future. The piece will consist of ordinary, beautiful sounding notes; no modern techniques are required.
Finally, we celebrate peace with John Lennon.

Inspiration for this program came from the charity concert in which Ludwig van Beethoven premiered his seventh symphony, in honor of the soldiers who were wounded at the Battle of Hanau.

War
La Bataille – Clément Janequin
A La Bataglia – Heinrich Isaac

Dance
Galliard Battaglia – Samuel Scheidt

Drink and Sorrow
Ignaz von Biber – Battaglia à 9

Soldiers’ funeral march
Symfonie 7, Allegretto – Ludwig von Beethoven

Healing the wounds
Concerto grosso Convalescentia – Georg Muffat

Commemoration
War Requiem – Robert de Bree

Peace
Concerto Grosso based on John Lennon’s Imagine

Back to the war
La Battaglia di Legnano – Giuseppe Verdi