Behind every military march lies another story.
From the earliest notated examples of the genre, this programme unfolds a richly nuanced tapestry of sixteenth-century battlegrounds. It invites us to reflect on the energy of the Reformation movement, the conflicting emotions of conflict, and the spirit that makes ordinary people rise up in challenging times.
MARC LEWON – cittern, lute, voice
PHILIPP WINGEIER – Renaissance drum
HOLLY SCARBOROUGH – Renaissance traverso & direction
60 minutes
3 musicians
FELDSPIEL
Fighting Songs of the 16th Century
Zweigulden’s ecstatic interpretation of this victorious German Easter hymn is based on an event in 1474 in Alsace, when the melody was sung with a new text to celebrate the overthrow and beheading of a tyrannical Burgundian governor, Pierre de Hagenbach.
A peasant anthem against corrupt monks and priests during the Reformation ("Eyn klaglied der armen").
The text of this song mentions looming threats from all sides: Germany, Burgundy, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Swabian League. Our melancholic arrangement for flute and lute gives voice to the soldier’s quiet doubts and traumas inflicted by war.
Military March for Flute and Drum from Thoinot Arbeau’s 1589 Orchésographie
