Trauer

The works on the tape „TRAUER” radiate a calming tranquillity with their emotionally charged soundscapes and authentic sound character. Well-known, but also many unusual pieces of music that are out of the ordinary are compiled here.

The first composition also opens the musical round dance thematically: When I am laid in earth is the final aria from Hernry Purcell's opera „Dido and Aeneas” and one of the most moving laments in music history.

The Sinfonia from BWV 156 (Largo from BWV 1056) is represented in two different arrangements: as a pedaliter version from BWV 156 and as a manualiter arrangement in combination with the chorale So nimm denn meine Hände.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy includes pieces from his oratorio „Elijah”. With the trio: Lift up your eyes to the mountains, from which help comes to you, the listeners are reached with „sounds from another world ...” The subsequent angelic aria Sei stille dem Herrn (Be still to the Lord), which calls on the hopeless Elijah - who sees his mission as having failed -  to persevere, is answered with the chorale Wer bis an das Ende beharrt. One option is to play all three pieces as a melodic sequence.

The mournful Prelude in E minor by Frédéric Chopin was played with its wistful lamentation at Chopin's request at his own funeral. Also from a major choral work is the Lacrymosa from Verdi's „Reqiuem”. An intense, heartfelt work.

Ferdinand Hiller's Charfreitag begins depressed and hopeless, changes to a passionate, uplifting section, but then returns to the depressing, seemingly hopeless situation. Max Birn's Good Friday uses the parish hymn „O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” as its theme and is therefore one of the few chorale-based works in this volume.

Many other very interesting and appealing works are represented here. Of the 31 compositions, 17 can be performed manually and 14 pedally. Some of the pedaliter arrangements can also be played without pedal (ped. ad lib.).

The compositions contained here can be suggestions for programs on the occasion of the Volkstrauertag, the Toten- or Ewigkeitssonntag or for Passion concerts. The shorter works are ideal for the musical arrangement of funeral services.