Budapest
Masses in Es
Pászti season ticket 1
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra
There is a European capital that international express trains merely race by, without gracing it with a stop. It is a tiny city, this is true, but one in a picturesque setting, surrounded by great mountains. It was here in Vaduz, in the middle of Liechtenstein, where Josef Rheinberger was born in 1839. In time he would become an enormously respected German master, mentioned in the same breath as Brahms. Then, at the height of the 20th century, his work fell into oblivion. However, it is worth rediscovering – anyone who has ever heard his Mass in E-flat major can be certain of that. The second piece will be a Hungarian composition to be sung by the choir. Around 15 years ago, five composers with more-or-less similar principles – Miklós Csemiczky, Levente Gyöngyösi, György Selmeczi, György Orbán and János Vajda – decided to jointly compose music to the unchanging parts of the Roman Catholic mass. Being played from their Missa Quinque Auctorum at this concert will be Gyöngyösi’s contribution, the Gloria. The interval will be followed by Schubert’s Mass in E-flat major, the last such work that the composer wrote in his life. He did not live to see it premièred. It is a sombre composition, with few bright colours. Especially heart-wrenching is the final movement, the Agnus Dei, in which Schubert also evokes the so-called cross motif. This is a four-note motif (that can be expressed as la-si-do-ti in solfège), which also appears in Bach’s passions when the cross cries out to Pilate “Lass ihn kreuzigen!”: “Crucify him!”
