Schütz-Wiedemann-Bach: The Missing Link/Funeral Music of the 17th Century

On 3 October 2025, Ensemble Polyharmonique presents a major rediscovery: Michael Wiedemann’s Begräbniß=Concerte (1693), performed for the first time in modern times. This three-part work is far more than a curiosity. It stands in direct dialogue with Heinrich Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien (1636) and anticipates the sound world of J. S. Bach’s Actus tragicus (1707). In structure and ritual it follows Schütz, in instrumentation and choral writing it clearly points towards Bach. Prepared in a new Urtext edition by Cosimo Stawiarski, this Epitaphium Musicum closes a gap that has long puzzled scholars and performers. Seventeenth-century funeral music now appears as a continuum: from the liturgical intensity of Schütz, through Wiedemann’s forgotten voice, to Bach’s synthesis. Eight singers and seven instrumentalists of Ensemble Polyharmonique, under the direction of Alexander Schneider, will bring this missing link to life at the Heinrich Schütz Music Festival in Gera (3 Oct 2025) and at St. Michaelis, Hamburg (19 Nov 2025).

program:
Melchior Franck - Unseres Hertzen Freude hat ein Ende (a cappella ATTB a lontano)
Michael Wiedemann - Epitaphium Musicum (with interludia by Johann Kessel)
Heinrich Schütz - Exequien (with Interludia by Johann Kessel)
Bach - BWV 106

Ensemble Polyharmonique
Magdalene Harer - soprano
Joowon Chung - soprano
Alexander Schneider - alto & artistic direction
Jaro Kirchgessner - alto
Johannes Gaubitz - tenore
Christopher Renz - tenore
Tobias Ay - basso
Matthias Lutze - basso

Anna Fusek - violino/ recorders
Kerstin Fahr - violino / recorders
Alma Stoye - viola da gamba
Heidi Gröger - viola da gamba
Frauke Hess - violone
Bernhard Reichel - tiorba
Flóra Fábri - organo