Musical contribution - March 2012

“Ik wil mijn gaan vertroosten” - Johan Bredewout

The month of March is the period of forty days on the church calendar. We devote ourselves – from a liturgical point of view – to the suffering and passing of Our Lord Jesus for 7 Sundays. A German chorale was central last year (Jesus, meine Zuversicht) and we used Psalm 22 two years ago, so this year you will be receiving a song from the “Boecxken”, which was published in Antwerp in 1539.

The musician Johan Bredewout produced this arrangement for his “Unprecedented Love” Easter Oratorium. This section takes on the woeful character which the text demands for the choir, orchestra and organ - under the “Faithful” title.

This character still holds true for the organ solo too. The registration instructions are for an organ with three manuals. But this arrangement is certainly also perfectly suitable with a minor adjustment if you have two manuals. For example, if you use one manual for the original melody and you play the other voices on the second manual with fl. 8’ and 4’ (or only 8’ if you take a Principal 8’ for the c.f.), then the third manual isn’t required.

We would like to invite you to the Bovenkerk in Kampen on Saturday 24th March 2012 if you are curious about what the performance sounds like with full strength. You will be able to listen to the entire Oratorium with the composer Johan Bredewout playing on the grand piano.

With kind regards and looking forward to seeing you on 24th March.

André van Vliet