Wie Liegt die Stadt so Wuste

Hamburg, 1674: to his contemporaries, the death of Matthias Weckmann seemed to herald the end of a glorious period. In his post as organist of the Jacobikirche since 1655, the composer had breathed new life into the city's musical scene with his Collegium Musicum. Among his finest sacred works is an astonishing setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, Wie liegt die Stadt so wüßte (How doth the city sit solitary). This haunting work is both pristinely evocative and immaculately structured, a credit to the teaching of Weckmann's teacher, Heinrich Schütz, and the German musical tradition preceding J.S. Bach. Scored for bass and soprano singers, a few strings, and organ continuo, the work demonstrates the most attractive devotion, and the result will touch even those with no religious affiliation. The libretto is taken from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, chapter 1, which speaks of the isolation of the city of Jerusalem. This is music with a deeper, more significant gentleness than can be found in any religious propaganda.