I. Oratorium in Nativitate Domini (Christmas Oratorio)
1. Introduction – Rorate coeli (Gregorian Chant)
2. Pastorale and the Annunciation
3. Stabat mater speciosa
4. Pastoral Music at the Manger
5. March of the Three Magi
II. Post Epiphaniam (After Epiphany)
6. Sermon on the Mount
7. Pater noster
8. The Founding of the Church: Tu es Petrus
9. The Miracle
10. The Entry into Jerusalem
III. Passio et resurrectio (Passion and Resurrection)
11. Tristis est anima mea
12. Stabat Mater dolorosa
13. O filii et filiae: Easter Hymn
14. Resurrection (Resurrexit. Christus vincit)
As early as in 1834, the young Franz Liszt expressed his strong opinion on the church music of the future: “As once, and even more so today, music must turn more and more increasingly towards the People and towards God, and must bring the two closer to each other. Music should make people better, nobler, and should comfort them, and should likewise bless and glorify God. In order to achieve this, we must create new music. Let this music be religious in its essence, as well as powerful and effective; this music, which in lack of a better term we may call ‘humanitarian’, will unite theatre and church in colossal proportions. It will be concurrently dramatic and devotional, grandiose and simple, pathetic and solemn, fiery and unbridled, tempestuous and tranquil, as well as cheerful and tender.”
In his ‘Christus – Oratorio’, completed three decades later, Franz Liszt was able to realise this ambition of his without any compromise. In October 1866, he informed his friend Franz Brendel that ‘Christus – Oratorio’ “has finally been completed as of yesterday… I composed the work entirely based on the Latin texts of the Holy Scriptures and the liturgy.” In fact, the plan for the oratorio had been conceived 13 years earlier, and some parts of it were performed even before the work was completed. Eventually, the premiere of the full oratorio was not performed until 1873. The performance, held at the Herder Church in Weimar, was conducted by the composer himself. Liszt’s ambitious undertaking, which aimed to renew Catholic church music, reached its pinnacle with his ‘Christus – Oratorio’.
‘Christus – Oratorio’, divided into three major parts, is further subdivided into smaller movements. The biblical quotation chosen as the motto for the introductory orchestral overture (“Drop down, ye heavens, from above […]: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation”) and the Gregorian chant associated with this quotation (‘Rorate coeli desuper’) signal that advent has come. This is followed by ‘Pastorale and the Annunciation’, which is among the finest musical examples demonstrating how Franz Liszt is capable of shifting between vocal and purely instrumental arrangements without ever breaking the narrative thread of his composition.
Liszt: Christus – oratórium
April 22 7:00 PM
Liszt Academy
TICKETS