We take you on an exhilarating grand tour of seventeenth-century Europe at Christmas time. After hearing seasonal music in London (a festive anthem by Orlando Gibbons and a pavan and galliard by Anthony Holborne) we cross the Channel to Amsterdam, Hamburg and Wolfenbüttel, where Christmas Lutheran chorales are sung, and to Lübeck for Buxtehude’s superb motet ‘Vulnerasti cor meum’. Then it’s across the Alps to Venice for a Christmas motet by the young Heinrich Schütz, studying with Giovanni Gabrieli around 1610, and to Florence for a striking sacred aria by Francesca Caccini, the leading female composer of the early seventeenth century. We return by way of Paris for a delightful miniature Christmas oratorio by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, itself testament to his youthful experiences in Rome. Back in London we hear a Christmas Pastorale for three bass viols and organ by Gottfried Finger, who came to London from his native Moravia in the 1680s, bringing with him memories of carols from his native land. We end with Gibbons’ great Christmas hymn ‘Thus angels sung, and thus sing we’, a setting of words by George Wither, in which we invite you, our loyal audience, to join the choir, viols and organ.

This will be a socially-distanced one-hour performance.

NB: we had planned two performances of this concert, but because of the current uncertainty we have reluctantly decided to cancel the second performance at 8pm.

Tickets: £18 (students & under-30s £9)
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