Sacred Music

When it comes to paying tribute to Heinrich Schütz's compositional achievement, in his art his treatment of the text and language must be mentioned first. The 'Geistliche Chor-Music 1648', a collectio...

Volume 19 of the Schütz Complete Edition brings together 21 very different compositions from various phases of Schütz's compositional output. The spectrum ranges from a short, two-part sacred concerto...

The three great motets Quam dilecta, In convertendo and Deus noster refugium, which Jean-Philippe Rameau composed between 1713 and 1715, have remained relatively unknown to this day. And yet these mot...

The three great motets Quam dilecta, In convertendo and Deus noster refugium, which Jean-Philippe Rameau composed between 1713 and 1715, are still relatively unknown today. The reason for this can be...

First critical edition. Together with Debussy, Ravel, and Dukas, Lili Boulanger was one of the most important representatives of impressionism. Despite her short life of just 24 years, she developed a...

Spohr's reputation as a violin virtuoso, composer, conductor and instrumental teacher was outstanding in the early Romantic period. "Die letzten Dinge" is considered the most important of his four ora...

This is the best of me, wrote Edward Elgar after the final bar of his "Dream of Gerontius". First performed in 1900, the work has long been one of the standard works of great oratorio choruses in Grea...

From a music-historical point of view, Anton Diabelli belongs to a middle group of Biedermeier composers who can be assigned neither to the Classical nor to the Romantic period. Although Diabelli want...

With its magnificent, almost operatic music, the Passion oratorio "Christus am Ölberge" is a different Passion oratorio that is definitely worth hearing and experiencing - and is undoubtedly unique in...

Spoken during his final hours, the “seven words” have been taken as a profound insight into Jesus‘s final suffering on the cross. These words, or rather statements, have been set by numerous composers...

This Missa solemnis in C major (before 1764) is recommended for performance to all those who would like to get to know Leopold Mozart not only as the composer of a musical sleigh ride and author of a...

With a musically convincing and in many respects highly original interpretation of the liturgical text, Herzogenberg's mass represents a final highlight in the late Romantic repertoire of the "Missa s...

Józef Swider, a native of Poland, has written more than 250 compositions for choirs, which enjoy great popularity. Today he is considered the most frequently performed Polish composer. His richly orch...

Nicolai's only surviving mass is one of his most important contributions to church music. It is characterized by its varied structure and good singing quality. It therefore offers many choirs a real a...

The Carus program on Dresden court music continues with the first edition of one of the great masses (No. 9, D major) by Johann David Heinichen, the most important musical representative of the Saxon...

Seit den Tagen der Renaissancekomponisten gibt es - jenseits von Plagiatsvorwürfen - die Verehrung eines großen Komponistenkollegen in Form von Zitaten oder gar von Neufassungen seiner Werke. Kein ger...

Giacomo Carissimi, the first grand master of the oratorio and author of numerous concertante motets and Italian bel canto solo cantatas, also composed several masses. The Missa concertata in C for 2 t...

Following the great success of his "Magnificat", the internationally sought-after pop and jazz choir composer Christoph Schönherr has presented another work for Carus with his MISSA in tempore incerto...

Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1886) is best known today as an opera composer and as the composition teacher of Giacomo Puccini and Pietro Mascagni. His greatest success came in 1876 at La Scala in Milan w...

Mozart and Haydn greatly appreciated the church music of their friend and Viennese court conductor Joseph Eybler. The Missa Sancti Alberti with its lyrical, pastoral tone stands in contrast to his mas...

Bruckner’s mighty Mass in F minor is one of his most significant creations and one of the great 19th-century choral works. The composer uniquely succeeds in exploring faith through the lens of music....

Eberlin's programmatic setting of the offertory "Terra tremuit" was composed for the festive liturgy of Easter Sunday at Salzburg Cathedral, which was a center of polyphonic offertory settings in the...

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, transcriptions of large (choral) symphonic works for two pianos were extremely popular, as they enabled a large audience to get to know classical compositions in...

Giuseppe Verdi's Te Deum for double choir and large orchestra is the most frequently performed part of his Quattro pezzi sacri and his penultimate work, composed in 1895/1896. Verdi dealt intensively...

Among the sacred compositions by Carl Heinrich Graun, the long-serving court conductor of Frederick II in Berlin, two works have acquired a prominent status: the passion cantata Der Tod Jesu from 1755...