Alte Musik am Bodensee

Monks at the Lake of Constance

– On monastic music culture in the Lake of Constance region

Friday 07 | 10 | 2016

8pm | Rittersaal im Neuen Schloss – Tettnang

Lecture recital
Prof. Dr. Stefan Johannes Morent (Musicological Institute of the University Tübingen) – lecture

Vera Schnider (CH) – harp

5 €  (children under 16 free entrance | no other reductions)

In 2016 we are commemorating the 200th anniversary of the death of Meingosus Gaelle, who is at the end of a century-old tradition of monastic music culture in the Lake of Constance region. This lecture gives an overview of the music, that has been performed over the centuries within the walls of the monasteries and abbeys around the Lake of Constance and the surrounding area. Since the early Carolingian period with Constance as seat of the bishop and the foundation of important cloisters, the Lake of Constance region can be righteously called the cradle of European culture. A unique interconnected cultural region surpassing future boarders. Music will be played coming from the monastery island Reichenau at the Lake of Constance and from the monastery of St. Gallen, as well as from the upper-Swabian monasteries of Weingarten, Weissenau, Marchtal, Ochsenhausen, Isny and Rot an der Rot. In the focus of this lecture stands the life and music culture of this region, which is so rich of monastic traditions that have left their traces until the present day.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Johannes Morent studied musicology at the university of Tübingen (doctorate 1995 and habilitation 2004), recorder and historical performance practice in Trossingen with Kees Boeke as well as Medieval music with Andrea von Ramm and Sterling Jones. He taught in Trossingen, Hamburg, Vienna, Mannheim, Cologne and Berkeley and substituted professors in Heidelberg, Saarbrücken and Detmold. He has an extensive concert practice with his Ensemble Ordo Virtutum for the music of the Middle Ages, with which he recorded numerous CDs in cooperation with the SWR. He is the artistic director of the festivals Via Mediaeval (Mainz) and Europäische Avantgarde um 1400 (Konstanz). His scientific interest reaches from Medieval music (performance practice and reception) and the music history of South-West Germany over the French music of the 19th century up to Digital Musicology.

Vera Schnider is a harpist performing both on historical and modern instruments. She is a founding member and active creative force of Ensemble Proton Bern specializing in contemporary music. As a specialist for historical harps she has performed with various Ensembles in Switzerland, the Händel-Festspiele Halle and went as far as Moscow to showcase her work. As an orchestra musician she is a member of the Zurich chamber orchestra and of the Luzern symphony orchestra. Schnider finished her first MA at the Musikhochschule Luzern. Further studies lead her to Prof. Godelieve Schrama for a second MA as instrumental soloist. Currently she is a student at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.