‘Lob, Ehr und Dank’
Sacred music by Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630)

A workshop for voices and instruments directed by Peter Syrus
Saturday 21st October 2023 from 10.30 to 4.30 (coffee and tuning at 10.00)
Leckhampton Village Hall, 22, Church Road, Cheltenham, GL53 0PS

Schein was a predecessor of J.S. Bach as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, and amongst the first to unite elements of the most up-to-date Italian madrigal with time-honoured Lutheran ones. Technically a couple of the items in the workshop are indeed sacred madrigals, including the stunning Die mit Tränen säen. The German chorale will be represented by Christum wir sollen loben schon, comparing the four-part setting by Schein with Osiander’s, penned some forty years earlier. Easily the most spectacular music is that for two or three choirs. Quem vidistis, pastores? and Quem quaeritis, Magdalena? are from his major publication of 1615, Cymbalum Sionium. From fifteen years later, in the midst of The Thirty Years War and as his own death approached, comes Schein’s heartfelt plea for peace, Da pacem Domine.
The workshop is for singers (all ranges) and players of cornetts, sackbuts, curtals, viols, and recorders (alto downwards). Pitch A = 440.

Until retirement Peter was a lecturer at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and also taught at several northern universities. With considerable experience in the performance of early music as both singer and instrumentalist he is in constant demand for running workshops and courses up and down the country.

Parking is available at the Hall, mainly for those with disabilities and large instruments, but also in surrounding streets.

The cost for the day is £20 for members of SWEMF and other EMFs, £25 for non-members. Please book before October 7th. Cheques will only be cashed after the event.

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