20% for 2 different concerts / 30% for 3 / 40% for 4 / 50% for 5 and more CONCERTS
Event Details
Schola Gregoriana Pragensis regularly returns to Brno as the supreme interpreter of Gregorian chant. The spiritual output of Peter Eben is extremely extensive, but alongside his famous compositions it also contains many lesser-known gems. Dozens of joint concerts by Tomáš Thon and the Prague Choral Schola, and the fact that some of the works were written especially for them, make them the best possible interpreters of this exceptional Eben concerto.
Holy Week Chants
Antifona: Hosanna filio David
Hymnus: Gloria laus
Versus: Tollite portas
Graduale: Christus factus est
Lectio: de Passione secundum Lucam
Communio: Pater si non potest
PETR EBEN
Mutationes for organ
1. Impetuoso
2. Allegretto
3. Veemente
Antifona: Calicem salutaris accipiam
PETR EBEN
Liturgical Suite (Part I.: Passion Sunday)
Introitus: Zjednej mi právo
Graduale a tractus: Vysvoboď mne, Pane
Offertorium: Oslavovati tě budu
Mutationes for organ
4. Scherzando
5. Rapsodico
6. Grazioso
Missa Adventus et Quadragesimae
Kyrie
Credo
Offertorium
Sanctus
Benedictus
Agnus Dei
Schola Gregoriana Pragensis:
Hasan El-Dunia, Ondřej Holub, Ondřej Maňour, Stanislav Předota, Michal Medek, Tomáš Lajtkep, Filip Šťovíček
artistic director David Eben
Tomáš Thon organ
Schola Gregoriana Pragensis, a consummate performer of Gregorian chant, is a regular visitor to Brno. Petr Eben’s oeuvre of sacred works is very extensive, and alongside celebrated compositions there are many less-known jewels. The organist Tomáš Thon and the Prague Schola have given dozens of concerts together, and the fact that some of the pieces were written especially for them makes them the ideal performers in this extraordinary Ebenian concert.
At the threshold of Holy Week, we draw on the musical repertoire associated with this period of the liturgical year. The chants opening the concert are a selection of the repertoire for Palm Sunday, commemorating Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Spiritual themes and inspiration in Gregorian chant are strongly present in Peter Eben’s (1929–2007) oeuvre. Mutationes, an organ cycle, was originally conceived for churches with two organs, and hence its various sections are very contrasting: movements in full sound and conspicuous dynamics are interspersed with more chamber-like preludes.
Suita liturgica is a selection of Petr Eben’s Liturgical chants, for which he composed concertante organ interludes. The composer said, “I wrote Liturgical chants in 1955–1960 as the proper of the mass for the various Sundays and feasts. Back before the Second Vatican Council, we cared strongly for the faithful to be able during the mass to understand the texts in their native Czech tongue. While composing I became aware of how contrasting the atmospheres of the various feasts were and sought to express this in music. The melodies are more modern in style but I preserved the Gregorian form of alternating antiphons and psalms.”
Missa Adventus et Quadragesimae likewise acknowledges its Gregorian inspiration. Composed in 1951–1952, a period of the harshest religious repression in communist Czechoslovakia, this early work by Eben was conceived for Advent and Lent, omitting Gloria and being scored mostly in a minor key. Eben’s conception of the mass is in many respects different from traditional settings. Sanctus, for instance, is often festive and joyful, but Eben’s feeling for it is closer to the Old Testament: it is an image of a mysterious, inaccessible Godhead.
THE CONCERT WILL TAKE PLACE AT ST. THOMAS’ CHURCH IN MORAVIAN SQUARE.
Tickets 290 CZK / 203 CZK (reduced), unnumbered
