What came first? The chicken or the egg? “Covering” is known from pop or rock music, meaning that songs are later sung or changed and edited by other groups. Sometimes the cover becomes more famous than the original. Of course, this also exists in classical and sacred music.
With very old music it is sometimes no longer possible to tell which was the original and which was the later adaptation – the question of chicken or egg can no longer be answered. Some examples of this can be found in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
But original and surprising adaptations in music still exist today. It wasn’t just famous organ influencers like the Briton Anna Lapwood who brought film music to the church – there have long been entire silent film evenings in churches where organists improvise to old films on the church organ.
As early as the Renaissance, secular dance music was used in sacred music, slightly modified. In the Baroque era there was the so-called parody process, in which a secular choral piece was given a new text and then sung in church services.
This phenomenon still exists today; the famous “Adagio” by Samuel Barber was created in the 20th century. It is very popular because of its emotional appeal; the composer personally adapted it into an Agnus Dei setting. The Agnus Dei is the final part of the Catholic Mass, in which Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God who died for the sins of mankind and which ends with an urgent wish for peace.
The Musica program on Sunday evening features several examples of musical adaptations, including works from film music that were set up for the church organ and the aforementioned “Adagio” by Samuel Barber.
