CHECK OUT THE CONCERTS CONTINUO IS SUPPORTING ON CONTINUO CONNECT

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BachxPalestrina
The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble joins forces with The Marian Consort for a sideways celebration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of the ‘Prince of Music’, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Palestrina’s music was hugely influential on subsequent generations of musicians, including JS Bach, whose own interest in early music led him to perform and study the music of the most famous renaissance composers.
Direct evidence of Palestrina’s influence on Bach is found in the handwritten edition Bach made of Palestrina’s 6-voice Missa sine nomine, to which he added 2 cornetts, 4 sackbuts and continuo. Bach’s choir at Leipzig’s Thomaskirche regularly performed other works by Palestrina’s Italian contemporaries, with much of this music being sourced from the 17th century printed anthology Florilegium portense . Indeed, they sang this music so often that the books had to be replaced in 1729 as they had been ‘sung to pieces’.
This collaboration between ECSE and The Marian Consort sets this fascinating repertoire alongside motets by Palestrina and works from Schütz’s seminal Geistliche Chormusik. a collection dedicated to the city of Leipzig and the singers of the Thomanerchor.
The two ensembles also perform Bach’s ravishing O Jesu Christ mein Lebens Licht BWV 118, a funeral motet which includes Bach’s only obbligato cornetto part, which soars above 3 sackbuts, 2 litui (performed here on mute cornetts), choir and organ.
This distinctive project develops an artistic relationship between two of the UK’s finest ensembles, one that began during lockdown with a beautifully filmed and socially distanced performance of Heinrich Schütz’s Musikalische Exeqiuen. This new project is a natural development of that initial collaboration.
Project Dates:
October 15th/16th 2 025 – 2 days tutti rehearsal in London, to include promotional filming
December 1st 2025 – rehearsal prior to York performance
December 8th 2025 – Performance as part of the York Christmas Early Music Festival
April (exact date tbc) – rehearsal prior to Cambridge and Bath performances
April 16th 2026 – Performance for Cambridge Early Music
May 2026 (exact date tbc) – Newly agreed performance at Bath Festival

Programme to include:
GP da Palestrina, arr JS Bach Missa Sine nomine (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei) 20’
JS Bach O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht 5’
Giovanni Gabrieli Hodie Christus natus est 3’
GP da Palestrina O magnum mysterium 6’
Lodovico Viadana Hodie nobis caelorum Rex 5’
GP da Palestrina Hodie Christus natus est a8 3’
Heinrich Schütz Ein kind ist uns geboren 4’
GP da Palestrina Magnificat Primi toni a8 6’
Andrea Gabrieli, arr Schütz Der Engel sprach zu den Hirten 3’
JS Bach Komm, Jesu komm 8’