Festival of Flanders Kempen

The song of songs

Ricercar Consort led by Philippe Pierlot

The Song of Songs, the Canticum Canticorum, belongs to the corpus of biblical wisdom literature. It is also one of the shortest books in the Old Testament. Many analysts see the Song of Solomon as a collection of love songs, some written independently of the others, which was only later brought together by an editor. The more religious and mystical view (based on the Cistercian tradition) sees the Song of Songs as a metaphorical description of God’s love for his people. The text is saturated with imagery, including the metaphor of the garden. One recurrent idea is the Hortus Conclusus or enclosed/walled garden, which is reminiscent of paradise in many different ways. The link with the Garden of Eden is obvious.

The text inspired the creation of extraordinary altarpieces in centuries gone by, with highly detailed religious scenes set in a garden. Tongerlo Abbey has such an altarpiece of its own, the ‘Besloten Hofje’. To mark the completion of its delicate restoration, the Ricercar Consort led by Philippe Pierlot will present a concert highlighting the spirituality of the enclosed garden. The programme includes interpretations of seventeenth-century compositions by Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Christoph Bach and Heinrich Schütz, among others.

21.09.2024
19:30 — 20:30

Abbey Tongerlo
Abdijstraat 40
Tongerlo