German Music

The final Main Stage concert in our Music Around the World series of 2025-26 is German music. The program opens with Josef Rheinberger’s Drei geistliche Gesänge, followed by W. A. Mozart’s brilliant Symphonie Concertante for violin and viola with orchestra. After the intermission we present Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem.
The Rheinberger work, composed for choir alone, is a group of three sacred songs: Morgenlied (Morning Song), Dein sind die Himmel (Yours Are the Heavens), and Abendlied (Evening Song). Texts from the Lutheran bible and poetry of Hoffmann von Fallersleben are set to beautiful five- and six-part romantic harmonies.
The Symphonie Concertante offers an opportunity to showcase a couple of musicians we always enjoy making music with – Victor Fournelle-Blain of Montreal on violin and David Visentin of Victoria and Salt Spring on viola. Through three movements, the Mozart combines aspects of a concerto and a symphony, with the two soloists engaging in a dialogue with each other and the orchestra. Although the violin is much more frequently showcased in concertos than the viola, Mozart had a special interest in the instrument with its darker tone, and played it regularly in a string quartet alongside Josef Haydn in Vienna.
Brahms’ Ein deutches Requiem (German Requiem), so named for its use of German lyrics instead of the traditional Latin, also bucks tradition in that it is a deeply humanist mass for the dead, omitting much of Christian dogma. The texts are all taken from the Bible but are focused on the living rather than the dead. The work opens with the text “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted,” and this theme recurs throughout the seven-movement work. The composition is exceptional, with Brahms’ masterful use of harmonic and orchestral colours to convey and comment on the texts, and beautiful vocal writing for baritone and soprano soloists. The ensemble has loved working on this piece – it is quite a challenge but so very worth the effort!

Tickets are $30 General/$5 Youth, online or at the door (cash, cheque or card), or $25 General/$5 Youth, at the special presale rate from Bach on the Rock members only, until May 30. Buy your tickets early as this program may sell out!