Evening music - Tafelmusik

As part of the 38th Early Music Festival Zurich took place on March 11 at Institute of Musicology at the University of Zurich a themed morning was held at the festival (organized by Esma Cerkovnik and Hein Sauer). Three contributions shed light on the festival theme Vespers I: Abendmusik - Tafelmusik from a musicological and German studies perspective, revealing the diversity of the phenomenon of "music in the evening".

In the first lecture, Hein Sauer reported on the setting of Vespers in the 16th century, which gradually became the focus of liturgical music production over the course of the century. Here, the speaker showed the special significance that the setting of the psalms and especially the Magnificat had in the 16th century, both in Italy and in the Protestant regions north of the Alps.

The lecture by Julia Amslinger (Göttingen) and Nathalie Emmenegger (Bern) approached the setting of psalms from a literary perspective. These were newly translated, formulated and arranged in the early modern period. The most prominent Zurich example is the work of Johann Wilhelm Simler (1605-1672). His German poems (1648) were set to music for 4 voices on the basis of the Genevan Psalter. Their success was not only evident in the numerous editions, but also in their distribution from Zurich to the Grisons mountains.

Finally, Ute Poetzsch (Magdeburg) reported on the Musique de Table Georg Philipp Telemann (1733). She demonstrated the musicophilological and musical problems associated with this demanding chamber music work. Poetzsch thus broadened the scope to include aspects of instrumental music in the 18th century.

These contributions, each accompanied by a lively discussion, provided an excellent prelude to the subsequent concerts of the festival.