Capella de la Torre & Katharina Bauml - Luther's Wedding Day

'Luther's Wedding Day' attempts to reconstruct a programme of music that may have been played at the great German religious reformer's marriage. It is performed by the highly-regarded early music ensemble Capella de la Torre and its leader/musical director Katharina Bauml. The disc features pieces by some of the greatest composers of the time including Josquin Desprez, Heinrich Isaac, Ludwig Senfl, and Johann Walter.

A historically exact reconstruction for the music to Martin Luther's wedding is obviously not possible, but the programme presented on this recording does its best to keep to what was both probable and likely. Luther himself possessed significant theoretical and practical musical skills. In fact he even wrote his own texts and melodies, the best known example being Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (A Mighty Fortress is Our God), a paraphrase of the text of Psalm 46. He greatly admired composers like Josquin Desprez, and was personally acquainted with several others. He also collaborated very closely with Johann Walter, and was a close friend and correspondent of Ludwig Senfl.

The ensemble Capella de la Torre gathers together musicians who have made a name internationally as specialists for historically informed performance. The ensemble's ambition is to perform the rich and hitherto insufficiently appreciated music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance on authentic instruments and thus make it live again in the general cultural awareness. The group's first album for Challenge Classics, Vinum et Musica, was released in 2012.

Personnel: Capella de la Torre, Katharina B�uml (direction), C�cile Kempenaers (soprano), Jos� Pizarro (tenor), Matthias Gerchen (bass)