Worship in a Time of Plague is a recording project by Capella Intima and the Gallery Players of Niagara.

The title seems especially fitting for Holy Week in 2023, three years into our own pandemic.

The scholarly side of the undertaking can be understood as an exploration of the possible influence of Venetian composers upon Heinrich Schütz, due to his nine month residency in the Republic. As they put it “We have assembled a selection of music to which Schütz would have been introduced in 1629.”

Schütz’s travels clearly made an impression on him. How much?

In this recording juxtaposing the influential Venetians with Schütz, they’ve created a remarkably cohesive whole, as if to suggest that the Venetians’ style was imprinted upon Schütz.

1–Laudate pueri: Giovanni Rovetta
2–Paratum cor meum: Heinrich Schütz
3- In te Domini speravi: Alessandro Grandi
4- Bone Jesu verbum Patris: Alessandro Grandi
5- Dixit Dominus: Stefano Bernardi
6- O quam tu pulchra es: Heinrich Schütz
7- Veni de Libano, amnica mea: Heinrich Schütz
8- Credidi, propter quod locutus sum: Giovanni Rigatti
9- Benedicam Dominum in omne tempore: Heinrich Schütz
10-Exquisivi Dominum: Heinrich Schütz
11- O beate Benedicte: Alessandro Grandi
12- Exultavit cor meum: Heinrich Schütz
13- Angelus ad pastores ait: Antonio Cifra

The liner notes remind us of the challenges church musicians faced in such times, as larger scale performance became difficult or impossible. Smaller scale motets represent a clever solution.

The line notes say
“Schütz returned to Dresden just before the outbreak of plague to which one third of the Republic’s population succumbed.”

The team includes Sheila Dietrich & Lindsay McIntyre, sopranos, Jennifer Enns Modolo, alto, Bud Roach, tenor and Artistic Director (Capella Intima), David Roth and Paul Winkelmans baritones, Julie Baumgartel & Andrew Dicker, violins, Margaret Gay cello and Artistic Director (Gallery Players of Niagara), Jonathan Stuchbery, theorbo, Borys Medicky, organ.

It’s stunning music done with wonderful attention to every detail, every note, every syllable. The music may be new to me but it’s now played every chance I get, in the car or at home.

To obtain click here.