folk.lore

The program features four Scottish

folk songs arranged for string quartet by the Maxwell Quartet, interspersed with Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite. The folk songs are performed by four musicians from the orchestra different for each song and played between the movements

of the Holberg Suite. The Holberg Suite is a five-movement suite composed in 1884 to mark the 200th

birthday of the Danish-Norwegian poet Ludvig Holberg. The suite

is formally based on the dance and song forms of the 18th century but written in the Romantic style. Grieg combines Baroque forms with the neoclassical musical language of his time. The work was originally composed for piano, but his own

arrangement for string orchestra became far better known.

The selected Scottish folk songs blend harmoniously and stylistically into the

atmosphere created by the Holberg Suite and cast the well-known suite in a whole new

light.

In keeping with the ensemble’s guiding principle, the entire program is performed entirely from memory.

This results in a unique concert, visually uncluttered by music stands,

which, as with the last project in December 2024, aims to offer the audience a

gripping and exhilarating experience. To make the most of the freedom afforded by performing from memory, the

performance will also incorporate visual elements, such as movement while playing. For these

staged elements, Anne-Catherine Knöchelmann (who has experience in theater and opera direction)

will be present at select rehearsals to provide artistic support to the ensemble.

The “Camerata Memoria Cordis” is a chamber orchestra that generally performs without a conductor

and performs all programs from memory.

In the fall of 2023, Michèle Rüegg and Erik Dolci first came up with the idea of founding an orchestra

that plays without sheet music. Time and again, they envisioned this project in their minds. When

the opportunity arose as part of their bachelor’s project at HSLU, they saw it as the perfect

opportunity to realize this vision: to bring together a small orchestra and

stage a performance of a kind rarely seen in the world of classical music.

With the performance of their bachelor’s project “Ad Libitum” in December 2024 at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts

, the foundation was laid for the creation of the “Camerata Memoria Cordis.”

Playing from memory fosters ensemble playing and the development of special human

relationships within the ensemble. Compared to a performance using sheet music, it allows for

much freer and more intense collaborative music-making and produces a particularly expressive

result on stage. With this concept, every single musician in the orchestra plays a

pivotal and important role. The resulting, evenly distributed responsibility strengthens

cohesion and creates a unique sense of unity on stage.

Feedback from the audience and participating musicians regarding the Ad Libitum project has

confirmed all these aspects and paved the way for the continuation of the idea.

The name “Camerata Memoria Cordis” aptly summarizes the orchestra’s concept. It

combines the word “Memoria,” meaning memory, with “Cordis,” which stands for both heart and string.