Music for Luther’s wedding day

Music by Josquin Desprez, Heinrich Isaac, Ludwig Senfl, Johann Walter

Capella de la Torre
Margaret Hunter – soprano
Birgit Bahr – alto shawm
Annette Hils – dulcian
Yosuke Kurihara – sackbut
Peter A. Bauer – percussion
Martina Fiedler – organ
Katharina Bäuml – shawm and direction

Tickets €18
Reduced ticket for people up to 30 years of age € 12
Reduction for 3 tickets or more € 15 each
Reduced price of €15 at the box office upon presentation of a ticket from the National Museums of Tuscany.

“Unexpectedly, Luther married Bora without even informing his friends of his intentions,” the humanist Philipp Melanchthon reported indignantly after the wedding celebration on June 27, 1525. The marriage between the Augustinian monk Martin Luther and the former Cistercian nun Katharina von Bora had already taken place on June 13. It can be assumed that, on the occasion of the marriage of this high-ranking couple, the music performed by the town musicians, befitting their status, formed an important part of the festivities, from accompanying the procession to church in the morning to the ceremonial dances in the evening. After such a start, the marriage had an entirely positive effect on the reformer. Erasmus of Rotterdam reported: “Luther is now beginning to mellow and no longer rages so fiercely with his pen; nothing is so wild that it cannot be tamed by a woman.” The ensemble “Capella de la Torre”, whose instrumentation with the historical wind instruments shawm, pommer, trombone and dulcian corresponds exactly to the town musicians of the 16th century, reconstructs the atmosphere and environment of Luther’s wedding celebration through the performance of contemporary sacred and secular music.