Program:
Georg Philipp Telemann	Concerto for three Trumpets, Timpani and Orchestra in D Major (TWV 54:D4)
Heinrich Schütz	Two Motets from Geistliche Chormusik 1648
	Verleih uns Frieden and Gib unsern Fürsten
Johann Sebastian Bach	Cantata Erschallet, ihr Lieder BWV 172
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy	4th movement / Choral from Symphony No. 5 D Major, Reformationssymphonie
	Excerpts from Lobgesang (Symphony No. 2)

Performers:

Vocal soloists

Academic Orchestra of Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Direction: Matthias Erben

Plöner Kantorei, Direction: KMD Henner Schwerk

The concert will present Music with a close relationship to reformation at the castle church in Wittenberg. After the beginning with the Concerto in D Major by Georg Philipp Telemann the choir will present two motets from Heinrich Schütz’s Geistliche Chormusik 1648 showing Heinrich Schütz’s great mastership in musical interpretation of text. The words Verleih uns Frieden come from Martin Luther’s version of the Gregorian antiphon Da pacem domine which from the middle of the 16th century is continued with Gib unsern Fürsten. In the Cantata Erschallet, ihr Lieder by Johann Sebastian Bach the relationship to Martin Luther is established especially in the Soprano-Alto-duet which presents a dialog between soul and mind connected with a citation of Martin Luther’s Choral Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott.

The second part of the concert will present music by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, at first the forth movement of his Reformationssymphonie from 1829/30, composed for the 300th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession. Mendelssohn was famous for the reproduction of Bach’s Matthäuspassion in 1829 too. He studied Martin Luther’s songs, as we can see in his use of Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott for this fourth Symphony movement. Mendelssohn’s Reformationssymphonie was received in a very distant way and he himself was not satisfied and was searching for a solution to deal with the symphonic form in general. He resolved the problem with his Symphony Lobgesang in 1839, where the first Symphony movements are connected with the following cantata movements in a thematic way.