Sacred Concert

Bohuslav Martinů: Field Mass For baritone, male choir, wind and percussion instruments, harmonium and piano on words by Jiří Mucha
Leoš Janáček: sacred compositions (Graduale in Festo Purificationis BVM “Suscepimus”, Exurge Domine, Exaudi Deus I, Contitues, Veni Sancte Spiritus)
Pavel Haas: Psalm 29 for Organ, Baritone, Female Choir and Small Orchestra, Op. 12
Kryštof Harant of Polžice and Bezdružice: Qui Confidunt In Domino
Jacobus Handl-Gallus: Pater Noster

The concert in the ancient Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Old Brno will feature minor sacred compositions by the late Renaissance composer active in Olomouc, Kroměříž, Brno and Prague, Jacob Handel-Gall (1550–1591), the slightly younger Czech nobleman Kryštof Harant of Polžice and Bezdružice (1564–1621) and Leoš Janáček (1854–1928), who served as choir director in the basilica, as well as two large-scale works by composers of the 20th century; Pavel Haas (1899–1944) and Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959). 

Psalm 29 for Organ, Baritone, Female Choir and Small Orchestra by Pavel Haas was composed in 1931–32. The composer was inspired by a holiday trip to Germany in 1931 where, among other things, he visited Beethoven’s birthplace in Bonn and the cathedral in Cologne, as he informed Zdenka Janáček in a postcard he sent her. It was this spiritual experience that led Haas to compose Psalm 29. The sketches for the work with the sound reference to the bells of Cologne Cathedral were already formed on during the trip. A year later he completed the composition to the text of the Psalm in the Czech translation from the 16th century Bible of Kralice. The work was conceived for organ, baritone, female choir and small orchestra and premiered in Brno in 1933 under the baton of Haas’ classmate Břetislav Bakala.

Just seven years later, shortly after the outbreak of WWII, Bohuslav Martinů’s Field Mass saw the light of day. The composer created it very spontaneously in November and December 1939 in Paris, with anguished memories of his country. He wrote his anti-war musical protest to the words of the writer Jiří Mucha. He conceived the score for baritone solo, male choir, wind music, percussion division, harmonium and piano. This extremely impressive work was premiered after the war in 1946 in Prague under the baton of Rafael Kubelík. 

Jiří Zahrádka