Mendelssohn’s symphonic cantata »Lobgesang« is a work of jubilation, commissioned for the celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, which the city of Leipzig planned to commemorate with special music in 1840. For this occasion, Mendelssohn composed festive music that falls somewhere between church music and concert hall music: the symphonic structure, the use of vocal parts and biblical texts, and the absence of an oratorical plot are the distinctive features of the composition, which also takes a broad thematic sweep and interprets the invention of the printing press as parallel to humanity’s spiritual enlightenment.
Paired with the Violin Concerto in E-flat minor – which, as a passionate, romantic solo concerto, has long been considered one of the most famous concertos of all time – the concert features two works from the same creative period, allowing us to immerse ourselves in the jubilation and spirit of renewal that characterized the 1840s in Leipzig.
PERFORMERS
Michaeliskantorei Kaltenkirchen choir
Kammersinfonie Hamburg chamber orchestra
Lucy De Butts soprano
Mirko Ludwig tenor
Benjamin Günst violin
Daniel Zimmermann director
PROGRAM
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 64
- Interval -
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Symphony No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 52 »Hymn of Praise«
