A Monument of Sacred Music: The work is dedicated to Anton Ritter Imhof von Geißlinghof, an important supporter of Bruckner’s in the Office of the Court Chamberlain. In a letter to the dedicatee, Bruckner emphasized that he had taken “the greatest trouble” in composing the mass. In the early biographies of Bruckner, reference is made to his spiritual inspirations in an anecdotal way.
Church music by Italian opera composers of the 19th century: While opera was clearly at the heart of music in Italy – it was the only way to achieve national renown – church music was certainly more present in the daily lives of the people. Most churches maintained choirs and orchestras, performing pieces written by professional church music directors, who also raised the next generation of musicians and composers.
If today – 1700 years after the creation of the Nicene creed – we intensively study and listen to its settings, then this is perhaps less as an aural manifestation of the Christian faith or an attempt to distinguish “true” religious tenets from false or different beliefs. Instead, the focus today is more on the musical exploration of various urgent questions facing humanity that transcend all religions and denominations, and which have been rendered into sound by composers throughout the ages: Why am I here? What is guilt and what is redemption? What will happen after my death?
For me, Palestrina’s music is like a balm for the senses and the soul. Regardless of whether I’m singing, playing or conducting, a few clean chords or an intensely shaped line can touch me, sweep me away and bring me a unique form of happiness. I’m always impressed by the ingenious combination of tonal beauty, spiritual depth and musical/textual clarity in his work.
A work of timeless beauty: We interviewed editor Andreas Gies, who introduces us to the world of Mascagni’s Messa di Gloria and reveals why it deserves our full attention.
Carus editor Guido Johannes Joerg sheds light on an impressive church music tradition: Italian church music of the 19th century.
Church music was particularly dear to the Liechtenstein composer Josef Gabriel Rheinberger. But he was not a follower of the prevalent Cecilianism movement of his time. He strove instead for emotional warmth and sensuality in his musical language, rather than serene austerity. In his works he found his own individual sound, combining traditional structures with tension-laden harmonic writing in equal measure. Read more!
Klaus Brecht, long-time lecture at the State Academy for young musicians in Ochsenhausen and one of the editors of the school choir book series chorissimo! at carus, came across during the preperations for the 2020 concert year to the Messe solennelle op. 16 of the jubilee Louis Vierne. At first he was irritated, but then his enthusiasm grew, especially with a view to the setting of the choir passages.
Conductor Hans Jaskulsky admires the originality, inspiration, and the courage to take risks in Beethoven’s C major Mass.
The Messa by A. Ponchielli is undoubtedly a masterpiece of 19th century Italian sacred music. And that is why it deserves to feature again in today’s concert repertoire, according to Marius Popp, Deanery Music Director in Kronach and founder and conductor of the South German Doctors’ Choir and Orchestra. He has conducted the Mass firstly in Cremona, then several times in Germany to highly enthusiastic audiences.
