This programme is dedicated to Passion music from the 19th century: Franz Liszt and Charles Gounod.
Both Liszt and Gounod have become known first and foremost for other things than their sacred music. Liszt is predominantly known as a piano virtuoso who composed a great number of works for his own instrument. Yet during his entire career, and especially in his later years, he composed many religious works. His Via Crucis has even become part of the standard repertoire of romantic sacred music, which we will listen to in this programme.
It consists of fifteen parts: an introduction and fourteen Stations of the Cross. Liszt was influenced by the plainsong (or Gregorian chant) during his stay in Rome, which is apparent also in this work. It also contains clear traces of his admiration for Bach, like the quotation of the choral O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden that Bach used in his St. Matthew Passion. Liszt started working on his composition in 1866 and completed it in 1878. Shortly after, he set the poem Le Crucifix from Victor Hugo to music, for vocals and piano.
Charles Gounod is solely known for his operas, but he left us quite a lot of sacred music. Like Liszt, he got captivated by the plainsong during a stay in Rome. Moreover, he became acquainted with the music from Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. He was inspired to compose not just sacred music, but specifically church music, in which the message takes centre stage.
He preferred writing music for choir a capella, as you can hear in Les sept paroles du Christ sur la croix, a work set to a Latin text. After an introduction, you hear the Seven Words of the Cross, which are set for four soloists and a four-part choir. Gounod expanded the number of voices to eight in the last Word of the Cross and split them into two choirs.
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
1. Via Crucis (S 53)
Karin Selva, soprano. Svetlana Skvortsova, mezzo-soprano. Mauro Borgioni, baritone. Chiara Bertoglio, fortepiano (Blüthner, 1866). Coro Maghini conducted by Claudio Chiavazza.
(CD: “Via Crucis S. 53” – Da Vinci Classics C00453, 2021)
Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
2. Les sept paroles du Christ sur la croix
Kammerchor I Vocalisti conducted by Hans-Joachim Lustig
(CD: “Musica sacra” – Carus 83.161, 2005)
Franz Liszt
3. Le Crucifix (S 342)
Mauro Borgioni, baritone. Chiara Bertoglio, fortepiano (Blüthner, 1866)
(CD: see 1)
Encore:
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)
4. Herzlich tut mich verlangen, chorale with variations (fragment)
Rolf Innig, orgel
(CD: “Sämtliche Orgelwerke” – Dabringhaus und Grimm MD+G L 4487-90, 1994)
Image: Third Station of the Cross (Bazilika Srca Isusova, Zagreb) (www.britannica.com)
