Il Vasto Mar. From Safe Harbor to New Shores

EXPERIMENT IV | Works by Heinrich Schütz and Moritz Gagern (*1973)

With the madrigal "Il Vasto Mar," Heinrich Schütz created a living monument to his patron, Landgrave Moritz of Hesse, at the beginning of a compositional life full of turns. The music sings jubilation, pleas for peace, tears, and hope across an entire century. Moritz Gagern carefully takes up Schütz's compositional principles, transforms them, and writes his own pieces that enter into direct dialogue with the old master.

Some works sound in their original form, others are reimagined for eight-part setting in a way that has remained unheard until now. Together with artist in residence THE PRESENT, Gagern explores the capacity of vocal music to become resistance. At the heart of Schütz's most expressive works lie urgent pleas, intense invocations, and intimate prayers - and therein lies the deep fascination with his gift to posterity.