Songs of New (and Old) Sweden

In the second half of the 17th century, Gustaf Düben presided over music as Hopkapellmeister at the court of Stockholm, where he amassed a great library of music from all over Europe, including Swedish, German, French, and Italian works. Only a little later in the same century, the German musician, writer, and free thinker Johann Kelpius and a band of his followers established a monastic community on the banks of the Wissahickon, just west of Philadelphia, where they played a full consort of instruments and composed mystical songs in German and English.

Filament and guest soprano Anika Kildegaard explore these two rich musical cultures side by side, bringing together music from the “Düben Collection,” by the likes of Buxtehude, Capricornus, and Tunder, alongside rare spiritual songs of the Wissahickon hermits.