Event

Membra Jesu Nostri

Join the Buxtehude Consort on April 9 and 10 to hear Membra Jesu Nostri by Dietrich Buxtehude (c.1637-1707). Composed in 1680, Membra Jesu Nostri is a sublime masterwork of the Middle Baroque requiring unusual musical forces, including a five-voice choir (SSATB, sung one voice to a part in our performance), 2 violins, 5 viole da gamba, and a continuo ensemble. For the seven cantatas which comprise Membra Jesu Nostri, Buxtehude mixed biblical texts with strophes from Rhythmica Oratio, a medieval poem probably by Arnulf of Louvain (d. 1250). Intended to be performed during the Christian Lenten calendar, each of the cantatas is devoted to a different part of Christ's crucified body, and together form what is considered to be one of the first Lutheran oratorios.

The Friday, April 9 performance will be at the historic Church of the Crucifixion in the Bella Vista neighborhood of Center City Philadelphia. The Saturday, April 10 performance will take place at the beautiful St. Paul's Episcopal Church at Chestnut Hill.

Founded in 2009 by artistic director John Fowler, the Buxtehude Consort is an ensemble of top Baroque musicians devoted to performing vocal and instrumental chamber works of the Baroque. The musicians performing in this concert are listed below:

Molly Quinn, soprano
Jenifer L. Smith, mezzo-soprano
Maren Montalbano Brehm, mezzo-soprano
Steve Bradshaw, tenor
John L. Fowler, baritone

Marika Holmqvist, Daniel Elyar, violins
Vivian Barton, Donna Fournier, Jane Leggiero, Eve Miller and Zoe Weiss, viole da gamba
Katie Rietman, violoncello
Richard Stone, theorbo
Zach Hemenway, organ