Mary is more than just a figurehead of the Catholic Church: she is the universal symbol of unconditional love, from her unquestioning acceptance of motherhood to her unfathomable sorrow as she stands in gentle devotion at the foot of the Cross.
Marian worship and its rich history is central to our region, and our Magnificat programme celebrates a wonderful array of musical traditions, using Bach’s splendid setting as a focal point – he was one of many composers who leapt at the chance to set Mary’s joyful words, and the Magnificat was his first significant composition as Kantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.
Our version develops several traditions that firmly linked to the baroque era. Bach himself interspersed the Magnificat with other pieces (such as chorales); in our performance we take the opportunity to explore some beautiful Marian hymns and compositions, and we invite our audience to sing with us and thereby experience the music more closely. Rearranging and altering instrumentation was part and parcel of baroque performance – Bach himself wrote two versions of this piece, transposing and rescoring the work to suit different situations (the original E flat version used recorders rather than oboes!). Essenza celebrates the diverse possibilities of this work in a intimate setting with just twelve performers – from the explosively joyful opening through moments of deeply profound expression.
We are thrilled to present our first season of Magnificat – rund um Bach this summer 2024:
Wednesday, 7. August 2024, 20:00: Pfarrkirch Maria Himmelfahrt, Tisens
Sunday, 11. August 2024, 20:30: Pfarrkirche Igls