In the Castle of the Moon: The Music of Sophie Elisabeth, the Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Sophie Elisabeth was a 17th-century German duchess who was also a composer, musician, and poet. She influenced generations of German musicians through her patronage of the arts, yet her music has almost never been performed in modern times. In this program, The Newberry Consort will feature music written by Sophie Elisabeth as well as her teacher, Heinrich Schütz, and some of her patrons. Repertoire will include strophic songs, instrumental sinfonias, dances, sacred concertos, and song-ballets for singers, viola da gamba, keyboards, lute, and a consort of strings and trombones. The soundscape recalls that of Sophie Elisabeth’s “Castle of the Moon”—an interpretation of the name “Lüneburg” by the dukes who lived there, as well as an allusion to female power.