Dark Cloud: Songs from the Thirty Years' War 1618-1648

Featuring

Björn Werner
Annegret Fischer
Erik Warkenthin
Benjamin Dressler
Nora Thiele
The Playfords

Johannes Werlin
Miscellaneous
Melchior Franck
Anonymous
Anonymous (Traditional)
Tobias Hume
Heinrich Schütz
Vincenz Rupffenbart
Johann Sebastian Bach
Samuel Scheidt
Kaspar Othmayr

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Interpretation

The Playfords, the ensemble on this album, have selected excerpts from these historical songs that are easily understandable today, focusing on emotional empathy rather than specific historical allusions.

Instruments

The album features a variety of period instruments, including a baroque guitar after A. Voboam (1676), a Renaissance lute after V. Venere, and a chitarrone after S. Schelle (1728).

Cultural Impact

Songs during the Thirty Years' War served as news broadcasts, printed on broadsheets and sold by the thousands, with a scholarly database listing around 1400 such pieces.

Historical Context

This album features songs from the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), a series of power struggles that involved the Holy Roman Emperor, various estates, Sweden, and Catholic France.

Composer Biography

Melchior Klesl, composer of 'Es ist kein Schnee gefallen,' was a cardinal who converted to Catholicism from a Protestant upbringing and had a meteoric career, becoming archbishop of Vienna and a close advisor to the Catholic emperor.

Historical Context

During the Thirty Years' War, soldiers often brought their families along, with wives and children helping with transport, loading weapons, or even plundering for supplies.