The acerbic and bizarre opulence of Baroque lyrical poetry sets the tone for <em><strong>vergehn wie Rauch</strong></em> (vanish like smoke). The interlinked themes running through the poems, expressed with similar linguistic devices, enables the interlacing of the various texts. The choral timbre remains ’intact’ in the traditional sense of the term. An absence of spectacular effects focuses the attention on the fine-tuned differentiation in harmony, dynamics, vocal coupling and the textual structure in the individual vocal parts. The optional brass ensemble blends almost throughout with the choral texture: this enables <em><strong>vergehn wie Rauch</strong></em> to be performed a capella according to both the modern and original meanings of the term. <em>Benjamin Schweitzer</em>