Classical Music

The Stabat Mater is Giuseppe Verdi's last work. The composer completed it in 1897 at the age of 84. A year later, the Stabat Mater appeared in print together with the slightly older Te Deum as part of...

Among Verdi's numerous compositions, the Messa da Requiem remains unique as a work of sacred music. It was composed as a musical memorial to the Italian national poet Alessandro Manzoni, whom Verdi de...

Gabriel Fauré's Requiem is the key work among the French master's sacred compositions. The work was already a success with the public during the composer's lifetime and remains so to this day. Due to...

Dvorák's great "Requiem" was commissioned for the renowned music festival in Birmingham. Since its premiere there under the composer's direction in 1891, it has enjoyed great popularity. It is based o...

Dvorák's great "Requiem" was commissioned for the renowned music festival in Birmingham. Since its premiere there under the composer's direction in 1891, it has enjoyed great popularity. It is based o...

„Der geistlichen Musik die Kraft zuzuwenden, bleibt ja wohl das höchste Ziel des Künstlers“, schreibt Robert Schumann im Januar 1851 - und das, obwohl er bis dato kaum als Komponist geistlicher Musik...

Puccini's first known work of church music was composed during his school days at the "Istituto Pacini" in Lucca and was premiered there in 1877; he chose a Latin hymn to the patron saint of Lucca as...

Monteverdi's "Vespers of Mary" has found its way into today's musical practice like hardly any other work of the 17th century. However, the "Vespers of Mary" also presents us with many puzzles. The so...

Anyone who has Bruckner's symphonies and well-known great masses in their ears will be amazed when they hear his "Missa solemnis" from 1854: can the tradition of Viennese Classicism still be so clearl...

As Kapellmeister of the royal court theater in Dresden, Carl Maria von Weber's primary task was to establish a German opera at court. However, it was also part of his duties to provide the "church ser...

Are you looking for operatic drama for the church choir? Then the "Messa di Gloria" for soloists, choir and orchestra by Pietro Mascagni is just the right work for you. Mascagni, whose opera "Cavaller...

A mass composition by a young Viennese composer: in 1760, at the age of 16, Marianna von Martines (1744-1812) composed her "Seconda Messa". Just one year later, another mass from her pen was performed...

A mass composition by a young Viennese composer: in 1760, at the age of 16, Marianna von Martines (1744-1812) composed her "Seconda Messa". Just one year later, another mass from her pen was performed...

A mass composition by a young Viennese composer: in 1760, at the age of 16, Marianna von Martines (1744-1812) composed her "Seconda Messa". Just one year later, another mass from her pen was performed...

Sacrilege or a stroke of genius? The composer and Kapellmeister Gottlob Benedict Bierey (1772-1840) orchestrated the first movement of Beethoven's famous "Moonlight Sonata" for orchestra (transposed t...

The two poems by John Milton L'Allegro (Cheerfulness) and Il Pensieroso (Melancholy) describe the contrasts between these two moods. Charles Jennens used them to create a libretto, supplemented by the...

The cantata Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern BWV 1 has become somewhat famous: With it, Bach's ambitious project of a choral cantata year came to an abrupt end on March 25, 1725 after around nine mo...

Bach composed "Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein" BWV 2 for the 2nd Sunday after Trinity in 1724 as the second cantata of the choral cantata year. It is based on Martin Luther's rewriting of the 12th P...

Bach composed the cantata "Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid" for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany in 1725; it is part of the choral cantata cycle. In the large-scale choral movement, a sorrowful choral mo...

The surviving parts for the cantata "Christ lag in Todes Banden" BWV 4.2 were used for a performance on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1725; this performance was presumably an emergency solution, as the chor...

Bach composed the choral cantata Wo soll ich fliehen hin BWV 5 for the 19th Sunday after Trinity in 1724. The cantata belongs to Bach's 2nd Leipzig year, the choral cantata year. The opening movement...

Bach composed the cantata "Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden" BWV 6 for Easter Monday in 1725. A choral cantata was actually planned for this holiday as well, but the choral cantata year breaks...

The cantata Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam BWV 7 for St. John's Day (24.6.) 1724 is the third cantata of the choral cantata year begun on the 1st Sunday after Trinity (11.6.1724). It is based on Mar...