Joseph Haydn, Stabat Mater / Johann Adolph Hasse, Miserere in C minor

The Stabat Mater, composed in 1767, was the first church work that Joseph Haydn composed after taking up his post with Prince Esterházy in Eisenstadt. Soon after its first performance, the work spread in numerous copies and established Haydn's reputation as the leading composer of vocal music of his time. Surprisingly from today's perspective, this Stabat Mater was once more famous in Europe than the setting of the same text by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. In fact, Haydn's composition is now somewhat overshadowed by Pergolesi's work and the great compositions of this medieval poem by Antonin Dvorák and Gioachino Rossini. Unjustly, we believe, because Haydn achieves a wonderful balance between pathos and expression in his music, which flows calmly along with brief interruptions.

Like Haydn's Stabat Mater, Johann Adolph Hasse's Miserere in C minor is rarely heard on concert programs. All the more reason for the Freiburg Oratorio Choir to dedicate itself to this work. In its first version from 1735, the Miserere was initially intended for the girls of the Ospedale degli Incurabili in Venice. The work exists in several authentic versions, including a version for mixed choir, soloists and orchestra. It was originally part of a Venetian church celebration during Holy Week. The eight parts of the composition are in part very contrasting musically, but express confidence and consolation rather than horror and fear.

The young vocal soloists are Karla Massouh, soprano, Mareike Zorko, alto, Michael Feyfar, tenor and Andrew Lieflander, bass. The Freiburg Oratorio Choir sings under the direction of Bernhard Gärtner and the Anton Webern Ensemble Freiburg plays with its concertmaster Lisa Immer.