For these days of the Holy Week I am going to allow myself some suggestions for those who dare to listen Holy music. The days call this genre, where the rhythm for some is different and invite us to surrender to these compositions.
There are the requiems (masses for the dead) of Giuseppe Verdi, WA Mozart and the German Requiem of Johannes Brahms, the best known and exquisitely beautiful.
If we are talking about requiems, we cannot leave aside the Requiem of the French composer Gabriel Fauré, completely different from the previous ones. Fauré had no clear religious beliefs. The essence of the work is more humanistic than religious. Instead of the somber nature of other requiems, Fauré gives us a serene, peaceful music. We find musical solace in a composition that focuses on calm nature and free from fear of death, evoking a soft comfort. The work has been called a lullaby of death.
Since we cannot choose all the music of JS Bach, written entirely for the glory of God, I recommend two. The first, The Passion according to Saint John, it is a beautiful work, rated as one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. It is considered as a treasure of innovation, tirelessly surprising in its combinations of musical styles of the time and wrapped in mysticism.
And the second, the Mass in B minor, the great catholic mass of a lutheran. Bach regarded the composition of a complete mass as the pinnacle of musical work, and he wanted to place himself in the centuries-old line of masters whose most ambitious works were arrangements for masses. The mass constitutes a complete religious rite, as well as a universal platform to examine the dualities of life and death, joy and suffering, sin and redemption, subject and object. Bach responded to the challenge with a musical universe brimming with light and dark, blending all the styles and genres he knew, archaic and current, into one amazing creation. Already at the end of his life, he bequeathed us a transcendent contribution from the Catholic liturgy itself, without forgetting that he was a Lutheran.
There are many works that represent the scene of the Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross. The Stabat Mater (Standing the Mother) is one of them. It is a prayer composed in the thirteenth century and whose words have been set to music. One of the most beautiful is The Red Priest -The Red Monk-, by Antonio Vivaldi. The composer is best known for his work for strings, The four Seasons. This Sabat Mater tells us about the richness and versatility of the Italian priest. It was written for the voice of castrati or falsetto or the voice that we know today as countertenor.
Mass in C minor K.427 by WA Mozart (coronation Mass). Mozart he wrote this mass in the spring of 1779 for the Easter celebrations, and like all music composed in this period shows his maturity as a composer, this is his sixteenth mass. In general, the music in this mass, although solemn, appears brilliant, luxurious and has become the most popular among those composed by Mozart and the compositions of his genre. It seems that the nickname of this mass, “Coronation Mass”, is due to the fact that it was performed in Vienna during the celebrations of the coronation of Leopold II, in 1791.
have one Holy Week full of peace and enjoy these days of rest.
