As a choir, we were ready …
As a choir, we were ready for Antonin Dvořák’s “Stabat Mater” oratorio, and were looking forward to the rehearsals with the soloists and the orchestra, and to the concerts themselves on the 4th and 5th April 2020.
Then, on 16 March, only a few days before the main rehearsal, the whole country went into a Covid lockdown: there would be no further choir rehearsals, and no concerts.
Four years have passed since then. But now the time has come once again: together with outstanding soloists and the Philarmonie Sudwestfalen orchestra, Audite Nova Zug will perform Dvořák’s wonderful work in the parish church in Unterägeri on 16th and 17th March.
The first rehearsals have shown that the work is still relatively fresh in our minds, and we are quickly getting back on track.
In his work “Stabat Mater”, written in 1876/77, Antonin Dvořák dealt musically with his own tragic experiences: his first daughter died in 1875, and he lost two more children in quick succession in 1877. “Stabat mater dolorosa” (the sorrowful mother stood) is a Medieval Latin poem, the central content of which is a meditation on the suffering of Mary, the mother of Jesus, during the Crucifixion and Passion of Christ.
Our concert in March follows on directly from our Advent concerts in the last few years, and thereby continues a theme: Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was also a central figure in Benjamin Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols” and in our “Hymn to the Virgin” concert.
Thomas Fähndrich (Translation Chris Lee)
