From the dawn of time, death has been one of the universal themes in art, including literature and painting. It also occupies a particularly important place in the history of music – over the centuries it has been at the centre of composers’ interests, regardless of the time in which they wrote. The NFM Choir conducted by Lionel Sow, along with the instrumentalists of the NFM ensembles and the flutist Jan Krzeszowiec, will perform works full of musical reflection on this ultimate experience we all must go through.

The concert will start with Johannes Brahms’ Schnitter Tod from the Deutsche Volkslieder song collection. Its melancholic and, at the same time, poignant character is in line with the Brahmsian song tradition, using texts dark in mood, preferred by the composer as a means of personal expression. The Funeral sentences for the death of Queen Mary by Henry Purcell was composed for the funeral ceremony of Queen Mary II, on 28 December1694. The mourning sentences set by Purcell are imbued with bitter, raw tones expressing the regret after the death of the queen. The highlight of the programme will be the Totentanz op. 12 no. 2 by Hugo Distler – a composition consisting of fourteen motets, inspired by a painting by Bernt Notke, created in the 15th century. The Dance of Death shows death as a person dancing among a procession of people representing particular social groups. In the work of Distler, the piece is considered as the essence of the composer’s individual compositional style. “O death, how bitter you are,” these are the words opening the choral composition by Max Reger, belonging to the series Geistliche Gesänge op. 110. The O Tod, wie bitter bist du, the last of the motets from the same collection, will crown the concert, during which we will also hear compositions for solo flute, maintained in a contemplative, almost spiritual atmosphere: the Miniature No. 4 by Philippe Hersant, the Pour que l'image devienne symbols by André Jolivet and the Sarabande from the Partita for solo flute by Johann Sebastian Bach.