Category: Choir / Vocal , Organ / Sacred Music
A Missa Brevis for high voices (youth or women's choir), accompanied by the enchanting sound of the Salterio (dulcimer) is something very special, wonderfully able to express the symbolism of "Mary" with its intimacy. The dulcimer joins the cosmos of a mostly soft-sounding vocal ensemble, evoking memories of a rural world. This natural gesture is reinforced by quotations from the song "Maria zu lieben ist allzeit mein Sinn", for this simple melody goes back to a folk song from the Bavarian-Austrian Alpine region.
The work was composed in May 2021 immediately after the release of my CD MOMENTS OF SILENCE, which contains an enchanting 70 minutes of my works for dulcimer. This Missa Brevis was composed for the soloist Birgit Stolzenburg and the Landsberg Youth Choir, in the hope that many people will discover an unknown and angelic world of sound for themselves.
Movements: 1: Kyrie 2: Gloria 3: Sanctus 4: Benedictus 5: Agnus Dei
Duration: 10-12 Minutes
Publisher of notes/sheet music: , 2021
Instrumentation: Solistenensemble oder Chor (Jugendchor, Frauenchor)
mit Sopran 1 / Sopran 2 / Alt und Tenor-Hackbrett (C – g3)
alternatively:
can also be arranged for 2 dulcimers, or harp, or tweo guitars, harpsichor, organ .
Text/Lyrics by: lateinische Messe
Introduction: A Missa Brevis for high voices (youth choir or women's choir) and accompanied by the enchanting sound of the salterio (dulcimer) is something very special, which is able to express the symbolism of "Maria" wonderfully with its intimacy. The dulcimer joins the cosmos of a mostly soft-sounding vocal ensemble, evoking memories of a rural world. This natural gesture is reinforced by quotations from the song "Maria zu lieben ist allzeit mein Sinn", for this simple melody goes back to a folk song from the Bavarian-Austrian Alpine region.
The sounds of the dulcimer are made for finding gentleness and silence. Like silent bells, the string tones can no longer be modulated after they have been struck or plucked. No longer influenceable by man, they create their own sound space with their fading out, which refers to something eternal and otherworldly like a many-voiced choir of angels from past moments. The hammered dulcimer is the archetype of all pianos, whereby the many different ways of striking the keys and the forms of the mallets make possible a differentiation of sound that is superior to any modern concert grand piano: the latter may well thunder louder...but in the world of silence, the inimitably resonant sound world of the hammered dulcimer is unsurpassed. Not for nothing was this stringed instrument called "dulce melos" (sweet sound, sweet song), which is still recognisable in the French term "doulcemèr" or in the English-Irish "dulcimer".
In our time of loud news bombardment, advertising hype and market clamour, this silence has become an all too important dimension of humanity. From Lao Tzu's "Silence and stillness bring the world into right measure" to the cultural philosopher Max Picard's (1888-1965) statement "Nothing has so changed man as the loss of silence", we find the value of stillness documented. Mathematics and geometry know that the vectors of all numbers originate from zero, in the inconspicuousness of white light is contained the richness of all spectral colours, every sound of music is born from silence. For all creative people, solitude and silence were indispensable. Thus Kurt Tucholsky "One must come from silence in order to create something thriving". Jean Paul "Our greatest experiences are not our loudest, but our most silent hours".
The MISSA SALTERIO "MARIA" was written in May 2021 immediately after the release of my CD MOMENTS OF SILENCE, which contains an enchanting 70 minutes of my works for dulcimer. This Missa Brevis was composed for the soloist Birgit Stolzenburg and the Landsberg Youth Choir, in the hope that many people will discover an unknown and angelic world of sound for themselves.
Dedication: Dem Landsberger Jugendchor und seine Leiterin Marianne Loesch gewidmet.
World premiere: 21.09.2021, Landsberg am Lech Stadtpfarrkirche Maria Himmelfahrt
Performers at world premiere: Uraufführung:
September 2021 in der Stadtpfarrkirche Maria Himmelfahrt in Landsberg am Lech mit dem Landsberger Jugendchor, Birgit Stolzenburg (Hackbrett), Leitung: Marianne Loesch
