Baroque days in Melk: Maria moves with Bach and a festival of singing!

Baroque days in Melk: Maria moves with Bach and a festival of singing!

The International Baroque Days Melk started an impressive opening on Friday evening in the collegiate church. Under the motto "Maria moves ...", the festival was opened with two settings of the "Magnificat" - one by Johann Sebastian Bach and the other of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach ( OE24 ). Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado led the Concentus Musicus and the Collegium Vocale 1704 from Prague that evening, with the vocals and the orchestra in excellent harmony.

director Michael Schade presented the biblical Maria as a timeless woman form with revolutionary potential. Johann Sebastian Bach's "Magnificat", which is considered the cornerstone of the baroque repertoire, was paid with great attention. The rarely played setting by C. P.E. Bach, which was composed in Berlin in 1749, also received the deserved attention that evening ( Wikipedia ). This first large choir composition by the composer is often overlooked, but a shame brought it back onto the stage and thus brought into focus.

The performance and its occupation

The solo garden were carried out by a talented line -up, including Nuria Rial and Shira Patchornik (soprano), Sophie Harmsen (old), Michael Schade (tenor) and Johannes Kammler (bass). The concert was broadcast live from Ö1, and to the delight of the spectators, the TV broadcast on Sunday, June 8th, from ORF III at 8:15 p.m. and June 15th from 3Sat at 11.20 a.m. href = "https://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/chronik/niederoesterreich/barocktage-melk-unter-dem-motto-mieht/636593977"> OE24 ).

A CD recording of the concert will appear in the German gramophone in 2026. The baroque days last until Whit Monday and follow the leading theme. The planned events include a picnic concert entitled "Leyersederin 1761" in the Abbey Park and a re-enhancement of the Melker Marienlied by Johannes Schachtner. The final highlight will be found on Whit Monday with the Hofkapelle Munich and mezzo -soprano Olivia Vermeulen under the title "Salve Regina!" instead of. The program includes works by Ferrandini, Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Biber, Scarlatti and Handel.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and his heir

c. P.E. Bach, born on March 8, 1714 in Weimar and died on December 14, 1788 in Hamburg, became known as the fifth child of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach. As the main representative of the sensitive style, he is considered a influential composer, whose piano music is regarded as the forerunner of romantic expressiveness. In Berlin and Hamburg he left an important musical heritage and was admired by contemporaries such as Haydn and Mozart ( wikipedia ).

his magnificat, which consists of nine sentences, was not only used as part of the service, but also gave an insight into the musical developments of his time. C. P.E. Bach combined his father's baroque style with his emerging classicism and continues to shape the music landscape to date Wikipedia .