Totentanz

Konzertchor Niederösterreich

Flora Königsberger | conductor
Johannes Silberschneider | narrator

Cecilia Zilliacus | violin
Lena Willemark | vocals

Hugo Distler’s brief life was torn between deep faith and National Socialism in all its horror, but also its seductive power. His preoccupation with the 700-year-old subject of the Totentanz (Dance of Death) resulted in a spectacular cycle of concise choral pieces and spoken passages. Death calls a number of professions and types of people to account for their deeds and literally summons them to dance. Distler’s enraptured sounds repeatedly elevate the gloomy mood with a sense of hope.

We couple the work with the dance movements from Bach’s Partita. The concluding ciaccona can be interpreted as a funeral song for his deceased first wife. Our guests from Sweden transform the solo piece into a thrilling and touching duo arrangement.

Born in Stockholm, Cecilia Zilliacus is not only an internationally coveted soloist for classical violin, she is “living proof that it’s always possible to pursue unusual ideas.” (The Strad, 2018) Thanks to his love of music, Johannes Silberschneider, a distinguished actor in the German-speaking world, is the ideal performer for the spoken verses. Flora Königsberger is a conductor and singer who has overseen ambitious projects at the Festspielhaus St. Pölten, the Landestheater Niederösterreich, and the Sommerspiele Melk. The Konzertchor Niederösterreich is a vocal ensemble founded in 2019 that comes together for a wide variety of projects, including this year’s “Israel in Egypt” and “Totentanz” programmes.

Hugo Distler (1908–1942)

Totentanz (1934)
Song texts from Angelus Silesius (1624–1677) “The Cherubinic Wanderer”
Spoken verses by Johannes Löcking (1883–1951)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Partita in D minor for solo violin, BWV 1004 with chorale excerpts.
Allemanda
Befiehl Du Deine Wege (Johann Crüger)
Corrente Wo soll ich fliehen hin (Jakob Regnart)
Sarabanda
Giga
Ciaccona