Expeditiones Musicae

The “musical expeditions” of Johann Melchior Gletle (1626-1683)

In the past there was a close cultural link between Switzerland and the nowadays Bavarian Swabia. Strigel, Holbein and other less known artists document this old connection. It‘s in the light of this broad historico-cultural context, that we also have to regard certain swiss-swabian interrelations in the field of music apparent for instance in the life of Johann Melchior Gletle. Still wrongly unnoticed, this componist and musician plays an important role in the Southern German and Swiss musical world of the 17th century. His sacred vocal compositions form an important link on a stylistical level betwenn the sacred concerts of Heinrich Schütz and Dieterich Buxtehude. Interestingly he published his compositions under the highly unconventional title „Expeditiones Musicae“. According to the dedication in the first volume (1667) they are to be regarded as „non militarem quidem illam, sed Musicam Expeditionem“ meaning expeditions not of military, but of a musical sort.

(cf. Peter & Silja Reidemeister (Ed.), Johann Melchior Gletle, 36 Solomotetten op. 5, Editionen der Schweizerischen Musikforschenden Gesellschaft 2, Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, Bern 2015)

After concerts in September 2021 in Basel and Augsburg, the ensembles InVocare and ad·petram will perform a program dedicated to the music of Johann Melchior Gletle and Johann Caspar Kerll at Klosterkirche Muri AG (Switzerland) on August 14 2022, 17h.