Gloria Sveciæ

At a time when France was devising an artistic policy aimed at exporting from a central point, Versailles, other European courts saw things from a very different angle. In Sweden, Charles XI maintained a court in Stockholm where the arts were of course given pride of place. In accordance with his wishes, his choirmaster, Gustav Düben, made it a place of passage and exchange of considerable wealth. For a few weeks or several years, the court’s resident artists rubbed shoulders with the best composers, primarily from Germany, but also from Italy and all the countries around the Baltic Sea. Originating from Dresden, Hamburg or Lubeck, sometimes coming from Rome or Venice, staying under the favorable hospices of Sweden, then moving on to Denmark in Copenhagen, these artists made up an elite of travelling musicians, feeding off a wide range of influences, languages and styles. While Louis XIV sought to build a monolithic French taste, in the image of a modern brand, King Gustav sought variety, singularity and cosmopolitanism. Today, the vestiges of this first-rate artistic life can be found in the archives of Sweden’s royal collections, which include sublime pages by J.C. Bach, Albrici, Tunder and others. Bach, Albrici, Tunder, Ritter, Peranda, Krieger, Pohle. German, Latin, Italian and Swedish sing the intense music of artists who must have felt a particular freedom, openness and inspiration under the northern sun.

PROGRAM
Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703), Ach, daß ich Wassers gnug hätte
David Pohle (1624-1695), Herr, wenn ich dich nur dich habe
Christian Geist (c. 1650-1711), Jesu nostrae, spes salutis
Christian Geist, Es war aber an der Stätte
Giuseppe Peranda (1626-1675), O Jesu mi dulcissime
Johann Philipp Krieger (1649-1725), O Jesu, du mein Leben
Vincenzo Albrici (1631-1696), Cogita, o homo
Vincenzo Albrici, Sive vivimus
Johann Fischer (1646-c. 1716),
Das klagende Schweden-ReichSebastian Knüpfer (1633-1676), Suite
Christian Ritter (around 1645-after 1717), Salve mi puerule
Franz Tunder (1614-1667), Streuet mit Palmen
Franz Tunder, Ach Herre, lätt tina helga englar
Franz Tunder, Jubilate et exultate vivat Rex Carolus
Johann Krieger (1652-1735), I frijdh will iag nu fara