Johann Sebastian Bach: Lobet dem Herrn – motet, BWV 230
“Praise the Lord, all nations. Extol Him, all peoples” – these are the opening words of Psalm 117. We do not know exactly when Bach’s motet was written, but it was first published in print in 1821 – 70 years after the composer’s death. The original edition of the work refers to a Bach manuscript as its source, but currently this manuscript cannot be identified. In addition, it remains unclear up until today – among many other things concerning this piece – for what occasion this magnificent choral work, with its continuo accompaniment, was composed.
Igor Stravinsky: Canticum sacrum ad honorem Sancti Marci nominis
Stravinsky cherished a special relationship with the lagoon city of Venice. It is also this city where Diaghilev, the inspiration for a number of Stravinsky’s works, is buried. And it is also here that Stravinsky’s neoclassical opera ‘The Rake’s Progress’ was premiered, and where the composer himself is buried in accordance with his last wish. Through this composition, Stravinsky dedicated one of his greatest works of sacred music to the city and its patron saint. The piece was premiered (in 1956) in St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, with the composition conducted by Stravinsky himself. The music of ‘Canticum sacrum’ has many connections with the late Renaissance and early Baroque Venetian tradition of church music and also to the Basilica itself. And, interestingly, the piece is also linked with the most modern musical experiments of the 1950s.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225
Bach (probably) premiered this three-part motet in Leipzig in 1727. The German text consists of Psalm 149, a hymn based on Psalm 103 (by Johann Gramann), and excerpts from Psalm 150. This two-choir composition was probably performed by the students of Saint Thomas School, and the layout of St. Thomas Church possibly allowed for a set-up where the two choirs were placed at a far distance from each other. The composition continued to be listed in the church choir’s permanent repertoire, and when Mozart visited Leipzig in 1789, he was so impressed by the piece that he actually took back its score with him to Vienna.
Igor Stravinsky: Mass
Composed for mixed choir and double wind quintet, ‘Mass’ was written between 1944 and 1948. The approximately 17-minute work premiered at Teatro alla Scala in Milan in October 1948. The composer recalled that the inspiration for this piece struck him by chance. Sometime around 1942-1943 Stravinsky came across the score for Mozart’s masses in an antique bookshop in Los Angeles. He bought the score and once he returned home, he immediately began to play and study these “sinful beauties of Rococo opera. I knew I had to write my own mass, and a real one,” he concluded. That is to say, Stravinsky intended to compose a piece that could be performed in the framework of the Catholic liturgy. The work was first performed in a theatre, and performances of the piece in churches were actually rare even later.
Bach and Stravinsky: Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her – chorale variations
Stravinsky intended this transcription for mixed choir and orchestra as a companion piece to ‘Canticum sacrum’ for the work’s 1956 premiere in Venice. Also, the performing apparatus of the two compositions is almost identical. The original work was written for organ in 1747-1748. Bach wrote all variations in C major, but Stravinsky deviated from this: he transposed the 2nd and 4th variations to G major and the 3rd variation to D flat major leaving only the 1st and 5th sections in C major. Additionally and more importantly, this way Stravinsky was able to weave additional melodic musical threads into the dense fabric of Bach’s music, and he did so most boldly perhaps in the 3rd variation.