In many of his choral works, Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström has sought a connection with the musical masters of the past. The number of Sandström works that bear a strong connection to Bach’s music is quite extensive and includes High Mass (1994), Magnificat (2005), the six motets (2003-2008) which constitute the Bach Motet Project under current discussion, and St. Matthew Passion, which recently premiered in Germany and Sweden in 2014. This study explores the extent to which Sven-David Sandström emulated the motets of J.S. Bach in the composition of his own motets. Further, this paper investigates these motets as a collection and examines two individual works within the collection as case studies for in-depth analysis. Ultimately, through analysis and discussion of the text, the division of text, the scoring of the motets, points of imitation, and specific compositional devices, the discussion explains how Sandström pays homage to Bach in the Motet Project primarily through the use of similar structural elements while maintaining his unique compositional voice to forge his own expressive path.

Beginning with his High Mass written in 1994, popular Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström modeled multiple compositions after famous canonical works using the same texts and/or instrumentation. Sandström wants to be compared to the greatest, specifically in how a twenty-first century composer responds to a text set , in the case of J.S. Bach's , over 250 years ago. His setting of Matthäuspassion (MP), which uses the same libretto as J.S. Bach, is his most extensive non-operatic work, one he considers his most significant, and likely his last work based on a preexisting model. This study 1) examines the influence of J.S. Bach's MP on Sandström's setting in the use of characters and chorales, 2) illustrates Sandström's compositional language in MP based on recent studies on his choral music, 3) describes his use of musical symbolism, and 4) discusses his religious and spiritual motivations behind the work, as well as his preferred uses in performance.

This essay investigates themes and theologies in Requiem: Mute the Bereaved Memories Speakusing a modified version of Material, Moral, Mysterious as presented in God's Song and Music's Meanings: Theology, Liturgy, and Musicology in Dialogue by James Hawkey, Ben Quash and Vernon White (2020). The analysis highlights the central themes victim/perpetrator and the Holocaust as well as sub-themes such as the game, Mary Had a Little Lamb and the sorrow of the children. The theologies found through the analysis are centred around belonging, longing, nothingness, and redemption. These theologies relate and reacts to the Holocaust as well as the existential state of being a human.