St. Florianer Brucknertage: Musica Sacra

Johann Sebastian Bach: High Mass in B minor BWV 232 Ad-libitum Choir, Ensemble Barucco Conductor: Heinz Ferlesch

This year begins with two sacred concerts as an "Ouverture spirituelle", in which Anton Bruckner's spirituality is explored in very different ways. The first of the two choral concerts features Joh. Seb. Bach's Mass in B minor, one of the greatest mass compositions in music history. Bach worked on this infinitely rich and festive work in very different phases of his life between 1724 and 1749 and completed it shortly before his death. It is his only setting of the complete Catholic mass text and, like many of his cyclical works from his later years, is part of his legacy of musical perfection. In more recent Bach research, there is also the assumption that the mass may have been intended for a performance in St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna in 1749. The 27 movements of the great mass consist of 18 choruses and 9 arias and follow a strictly symmetrical concept. This fascinating work is being performed for the first time in St Florian's and fits perfectly into the architecture and acoustics of the abbey basilica.