Heinrich Kaminski

Die Messe deutsch

O confused world! This is how Heinrich Kaminski's self-written Kyrie text of his a cappella mass begins. The work was composed in 1934 as a reaction to the National Socialists' seizure of power - and it remained a fragment. This was because Kaminski lacked the words for a German paraphrase of the Latin wish for peace "et in terra pax" due to the circumstances of the time. The composer fled to Switzerland several times to escape the inhuman Nazi regime. His music is a cry of despair, a cry for God's mercy on the eve of the Second World War, but also a personal statement against the inhumanity and forsakenness of his time. Above all stands the Gloria, the praise of God.

Although the work remained unfinished as a mass, it is self-contained as a Kyrie with a Gloria call and can be performed as a powerful plea against hatred and blindness and for love and hope.