Seeds of Sorrow

The vocal compositions of Andreas Hammerschmidt, David Pohle, and Johann Vierdanck emerge as a source of hope in a Europe scarred by the Thirty Years’ War. Music that speaks through timeless emotions – expressing the yearning for redemption and the spiritual pull of something greater than humankind. At moments steeped in despair and at others radiant with hope, it gives voice to sorrow, yet also to the longing for peace and joy. Rich in texture and harmony, artful and deeply moving.

The six-member Dutch vocal ensemble Tempera Mente has delved into these rarely performed early Baroque sacred works, tracing the thread of that musical seed of hope which, once fallen like a tear to the earth, bore fruit across generations of composers – from Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow to his pupil George Frideric Handel.