![\"\"](\"https:\/\/soundslikesydney.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Stabat_Mater_thumb.jpg\" "\\"Stabat_Mater_thumb\\"")
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Sydney chamber\u00a0vocal ensemble Bel a capella <\/em>conducted by Anthony Pasquill presents a ravishing programme of 16th and 17th sacred century music featuring the music of contemporaries Domenico Scarlatti (1685- 1757), Antonio Lotti (1667 – 1740), Antonio Caldara (1670 – 1736)\u00a0and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750), along with their predecessors Heinrich Schutz (1585 – 1672) and Claudio Monteverdi (1567 – 1643).<\/p>\n It is a\u00a0well\u00a0matched\u00a0programme of music by\u00a0composers connected by more than just dates. Lotti, Caldara and Monteverdi all studied or worked at St Marco<\/em> in Venice; D Scarlatti, born in Naples, did\u00a0spend time in\u00a0Venice. Whilst little is known of his time there, it is unlikely that he did not, as a musician, have some encounter with the Basilica. Schutz was\u00a0a significant figure in German Lutheran music who\u00a0also travelled to Venice more than once to work with his contemporary, Monteverdi.\u00a0JS Bach,\u00a0a Lutheran as well,\u00a0never left Germany, but is linked to this cohort by inheriting the musical legacy of Schutz. Lotti is known to have worked in Dresden, a city where both Schutz and Bach worked and where Schutz died and was buried. Neat.<\/p>\n There is more. The works by Scarlatti and Lotti focus on the crucifixion. Not the most joyful of subjects. However, the musical\u00a0writing has a power and beauty well suited to quiet introspection. D Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater ( <\/em>not to be confused with his father Alessandro’s work)<\/em>\u00a0is written for 10 parts. Its text\u00a0dates from\u00a0<\/em>medieval times and\u00a0has\u00a0been attributed to the Italian Franciscan Jacopone da Todi (d<\/em> 1306). It tells of Mary,\u00a0the mother of Christ at the foot of the Cross – ‘The Mother Standing”. The two works by Lotti for 8 and 10 voices continue the theme. The Crucifixus <\/em>is an isolated movement taken from\u00a0the Latin mass.<\/p>\n J S Bach’s \u00a0Jesu Meine Freude <\/em>is\u00a0the third and arguably the most popular\u00a0of his 6 motets. Written in 11 movements\u00a0its text is based on the Epistle to the Romans and its chorale, on a melody by Johann Cruger.<\/p>\n Linking back to Mary, the Magnificat is\u00a0the Song of Mary. Like the Stabat Mater <\/em>it\u00a0dates from\u00a0ancient times and is possibly one of the earliest\u00a0Marian\u00a0hymns. Sch\u00fctz\u2019s\u00a0Deutsches Magnificat (Meine Seele erhebt den Herren) <\/em>is a setting for double choir written\u00a0at the age of 86, the year before his death.<\/p>\n