ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
PHILIPPE HERREWEGHE
Johann Herman SCHEIN (1586-1630):
*Israelis Brünnlein* 1623
_Geistliche Madrigale zu 5 Stimmen und Generalbass_
Dorothée Mields, Hana Blaziková _soprano_
Robert Getchell _alto_
Thomas Hobbs _tenor_
Peter Kooij _bass_
Collegium Vocale Gent _basso continuo_
Philippe Herreweghe
Like Samuel Scheidt and Heinrich Schütz, Johann Hermann Schein was able to harness the emotional power of contemporary Italian music in his own compositions. As cantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig and thus one of Bach’s illustrious predecessors, Schein combined the southern idioms with those of his own Lutheran world. His magnum opus Israelis Brünnlein, a collection of five-voice madrigals from 1623, is splendid evidence of his ability to effortlessly combine polyphonic style with baroque expressiveness, creating an ingenious wellspring of musical eloquence.