The Sound of Erasmus in Basel

18 August 2024

Basel will again host the interdisciplinary festival Erasmus klingt! –Festival Lab from 9 to 15 September 2024.

Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466/69-1536), who lived and worked in Basel for many years, is at the centre of the festival, which will now be held biennially given the 500th anniversary of Erasmus’ death in Basel in 2036.

The festival is being organised in collaboration with various educational and cultural institutions in Basel, including the University of Basel, the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, the Volkshochschule beider Basel, and various museums.

For the festival’s second edition, Erasmus’s work The Lament for Peace (Querela Pacis, 1517) inspires the concerts and other events dedicated to the theme of peace.

Like today, Erasmus’s time was characterised by violence at the beginning of the modern era: many scholars raised their voices against the countless wars that flared up in Europe. In the book, The Lamentation of Peace, the humanist Erasmus used all his powers of persuasion to lament and denounce the absurdity of war and the benefits of peace. He aimed to emphasise the importance of solidarity and human dignity by using culture as a powerful instrument for life in the community.

The festival’s events are based on some of Erasmus’ main themes, which will be reinterpreted from a historical perspective: Some concerts focus on Old Testament stories of manipulation, war and peace or the conclusion of peace treaties (Peace of Utrecht, Rastatt and Baden (1713/14) Peace of Westphalia 1648) as well as visualising specific war events.

In other concerts, the theme of the conflict is illuminated in a ‘human’ dimension: the painful consequences of war, the struggle of human emotions and the conflict between feeling and rationality.

Between the musical works at the concerts, readings from Erasmus’ “Lament for Peace” will be presented. During the day, various accompanying events are organised in the Wildt’sches Haus, including philosophy, history, musicology, and peace research.

(Source, tickets and further information: erasmus-klingt.kulturticket.ch)