Lautten Compagney: »Behold a Wonder Here« – John Dowland and the Round Table
Tickets & dates
About the production
Start
7:30 p.m.
End
9 p.m.
During John Dowland’s lifetime (1563–1626), there was no public concert culture as we know it today. Musical life was instead a kind of »PRIVATE MUSICKE«, as the title of a Baroque songbook by Martin Peerson suggests. The members of aristocratic and wealthy bourgeois families were usually able to sing, dance, and play the lute. People played for themselves or hired professionals to perform for small groups in private spaces. John Dowland himself was a well-known and sought-after lutenist. His »Books of Songs and Ayres« were printed in a particular form for this purpose, so that all of the performers could sit together at a table and read from the same book.
Beginning in 1597, a number of Dowland’s songbooks were published. In their unique combination of text and music, they are comparable in quality to the songs of other distinguished composers such as Henry Purcell, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Franz Schubert, or Johannes Brahms. However, many of Dowland’s »ayres« were written for a vocal quartet accompanied by lute and viola da gamba, even though they are often performed by soloists today.
The lautten compagney is dedicated to performing this music in its original form, with four singers and three instrumentalists sitting at a round table. In this way, they are able to communicate with each other and with modern listeners. The sounds take on a different quality than in a »frontal« performance.
Programm:
John Dowland:
Unquiet thoughts – 1. Buch
Stay time awhile thy flying – A Pilgrim‘s Solace
Time stands still – 3. Buch
Fine Knacks for ladies – 2. Buch
Can she excuse my wrongs – 1. Buch
O sweet woods – 2. Buch
Flow my tears – 2. Buch
Now o now I needs must part – 1. Buch (instrumental)
Humor say what mak’st thou here? – 2. Buch
A shepherd in a shade – 2. Buch
Were every thought an eye – A Pilgrim‘s Solace
My thoughts are winged with hopes – 1. Buch
What poor astronomers are they – 3. Buch
Behold a wonder here – 3. Buch
Clear or cloudy sweet as April showring – 2. Buch
Come again, sweet love – 1. Buch
*Die Quellen dieses Programms sind die drei Songbooks und A Pilgrim‘s Solace
1597–First Book of Songs or Ayres
1600–Second Book of Songs or Ayres
1603–Third Book of Songs or Ayres
1612–A Pilgrim‘s Solace
Lautten Compagney
Die Berliner Lautten Compagney zählt zu den renommiertesten Orchestern der Alten-Musik-Szene. Sie wurde 1984 im damaligen Ost-Berlin gegründet und feiert in diesem Jahr ihr 40-jähriges Bestehen. Musikalischer Leiter und Ideengenerator ist der Mitbegründer und Lautenist Wolfgang Katschner. 2019 wurde die Lautten Compagney mit dem OPUS Klassik als Ensemble des Jahres ausgezeichnet. Sie ist in Konzerten, Opernaufführungen und Crossover-Projekten zu erleben.
Das Ensemble gehört zu den wenigen freien Produzenten von Musiktheaterprojekten in Deutschland. Für seine ungewöhnlichen und innovativen Programme wird es vom Publikum und den nationalen und internationalen Feuilletons gleichermaßen geschätzt. Neben Auftritten in Berlin tourt die Lautten Compagney mit gut 100 Konzerten im Jahr durch Europa und die Welt. An der Dresdner Semperoper feierte sie kürzlich als erstes Gastensemble in der jüngeren Geschichte des Hauses die umjubelte Premiere von Monteverdis »L’Orfeo«.
Artists
Sopran Anna Moritz
Alt Julia Böhme
Tenor Johannes Gaubitz
Bass Cornelius Uhle
Viola da Gamba Ulrike Becke
Theorbe, Orpharion Hans-Werner Apel
Laute und Musikalische Leitung Wolfgang Katschner
Location
Location Schloss Altdöbern
Address Am Park, 03229 Altdöbern
