Thomas Hennig: Commissioned work for the 120th anniversary of the Berlin Oratorio Choir / premiere
Leoš Janáček: Glagolitic Mass
Vanessa Lindsay Lanch, Soprano
Gundula Hintz, Alto
Hans-Georg Priese, Tenor
Ralf Lukas, Bass
- Berliner Oratorien-Chor
Daniel Seeger, organ - Konzerthausorchester Berlin
- Conductor Thomas Hennig
With the Glagolitic Mass by Leoš Janáček, the Berlin Oratorio Choir sets another programmatic highlight in the anniversary year celebrating its 120th birthday. Janáček is considered one of the most important Czech choral composers. The Glagolitic Mass is his late work and simultaneously the masterpiece of his choral compositions. Premiered in Brno in 1927, it was significantly revised by the composer and published in 1929, after Janáček’s death. We will perform this composition, conceived in Old Church Slavonic, in its ‘final’ version.
With Brahms’ Triumphlied and Nänie, we supplement the concert program and thereby reference the extensive engagement with the choral works of this great German Romantic, which the BOC has regularly maintained in its concert repertoire.
Another late Romantic composer who has recently played an important role in our choir’s concert planning and who was notably influenced by Brahms when composing for the choir is Richard Strauss. The BOC premiered the ‘Besinnung’, left as a fragment and completed only a few years ago. Strauss’ ‘Deutsche Motette’ also clearly refers to Brahms’ choral works (Fest- und Gedenksprüche, Triumphlied) and sets to music a poem from a collection by Friedrich Rückert. With the ‘Schlusslied’ from the same collection, Strauss intended to continue the series of settings. This plan could not be carried out, but the discussed poem forms the basis for the ‘Ghasele’, which was commissioned as a composition for the choir’s anniversary.
