Musica Sacra opens with Berlioz oratorio in St Pölten

The Musica Sacra festival begins its 53rd edition on Sunday with Hector Berlioz’s sacred trilogy about the childhood of Jesus at St Pölten Cathedral, ORF reported. The festival brings together architecture, spirituality and sound at historic venues.

Berlioz’s three-part oratorio L’Enfance du Christ, which was a major artistic success during the composer’s lifetime, is now performed relatively rarely. Instead of opening with Jesus’s birth, the work begins with Herod’s dream that a child will become king and threaten his position on the throne. The second part focuses on the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt, while the final part depicts their arrival in Sais.

“Berlioz writes truly magnificent music here,” said Valentin Kunert, St Pölten’s cathedral music director and the festival’s musical director, during Sunday’s dress rehearsal. He said the composer’s instrumentation and musical depiction of images strongly reminded him of film music.

The performance features the Brno Philharmonic, the St Pölten Cathedral Choir, the Sindelfingen Vocal Cabinet and soloists Dorottya Lang, Tobias Lusser, David Jagodic and Nicolas Testé, conducted by Kunert.

Faith and rarely performed works

This year’s programme focuses on notable figures and elements of Catholic religious life, alongside outstanding works that are not often performed. The festival will conclude with a tribute to Mary in Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespro della beata vergine, performed on October 10 at the Lilienfeld Abbey Basilica by the Cappella Nova Graz under conductor Otto Kargl.

On September 20, Göttweig Abbey will host the festival for the first time. In its crypt, the Prague ensemble Tiburtina will perform music by Hildegard of Bingen. Kunert said the delicate music would take on a special atmosphere in the space, where the abbey’s monks pray and sing.

Marimba, organ and family concerts

On October 4, French percussionist Adélaïde Ferrière and Stuttgart collegiate church organist Kay Johannsen will meet at St Pölten Cathedral for a musical dialogue between marimba and cathedral organ. Their programme includes works by Bach, Busoni, Glass and Cage.

Children and families can attend a theatre concert on October 2 and 3 at the concert hall of the Conservatory of Church Music. The musical adventure centres on the cat Carmen and the courageous Jonah, with actress Friederike von Krosigk, organist Johann Simon Kreuzpointner and clarinettist Bettina Hochholzer.

Bruckner and the festival’s spiritual focus

The programme also includes Anton Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony. Kunert said Bruckner did not draw a clear line between his work as a church musician, composer and believer. The symphony includes a theme from the Te Deum, and Bruckner dedicated his Ninth Symphony to “the dear God”.

Under the theme “Music and Prayer”, the Military Band of Lower Austria will perform works by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Gustav Mahler at Herzogenburg Abbey on October 3. The soloist will be trombonist Florian Strasser, with Adolf Obendrauf conducting.