O Lieb wie süß und bitter (O love, so sweet and bitter) - Leonhard Lechner | Cape Town Youth Choir

"O Lieb, wie süß und bitter"
Composed by Leonhard Lechner (1553 - 1606)
Performed by the Cape Town Youth Choir
Conducted by Leon Starker
Lyrics and Translation:
German:
O Lieb, wie süß und bitter,
ein brennend sehnlich Not,
voll Trauren Furcht und Zittern,
bist ärger dann der Tod,
ein Anfang aller Freud und Leid,
wie Petrarca dich nennet,
ein süße Bittrigkeit.
English:
O love, so sweet and bitter
A burning, blessed affliction
Filled with tears, fear, and trembling
Worse than death
The start of all joy and suffering
Just as Petrarch (a 14th century Italian poet) called you:
a sweet bitterness.
Leonhard Lechner was a German composer, kapellmeister, tenor and music editor who was taught by Orlando de Lassus. He added Athesinus to his signature, referring to his origin in today's South Tyrol. His last positions were at the court of court of Stuttgart. He is regarded as a "leading German composer of choral music in the later 16th century". While many of his works are lost, a Passion, many expressive songs, and a song cycle are extant. The complete works were published by Bärenreiter in 14 volumes.
Lechner published twelve part-song collections during the 1570s. In 1593, he composed a Passion, Historia der Passion and Leidens unsers einigin Erlösers und Seligmachers Jesu Christi, in Württemberg. The 1593 work has five movements and is for a four-part mixed choir with a German text based on the four Gospels. Barely any of his compositions were printed during his lifetime. Some manuscripts are extant while many of his works are lost. His swan song was Deutsche Sprüche von Leben und Tod (German sentences of life and death).
His works have been published from the 1920s, including the Passion, the Deutsche Sprüche, and his setting of the Song of Songs. A complete edition of his extant works was commissioned by the Heinrich Schütz Society and completed in 14 volumes by Bärenreiter edited by Konrad Ameln.
The Larousse Encyclopedia Of Music stated, "His music is remarkable for its dramatic power and emotional intensity, qualities particularly evident in the fifteen Deutsche Sprüche von Leben und Tod, which reveal his sure command of techniques ranging from fluent polyphony to chordal writing." John C. Hughes of The Choral Journal wrote, "Upon deeper investigation, one finds Lechner's Passion not only to be a well-constructed work of art ... but also a strong influence upon later contributions to the Passion genre."
He is listed as an ecumenical saint.
-Wikipedia
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