Dvorak And Vierne - Music For Chorus & Organ

The concert features two masses for chorus and organ written in the late Nineteenth Century.

The Czech composer Antonin Dvořák is perhaps best known for his symphonies, especially the one sub-titled "From the New World". But he also wrote much else, including some sacred music. This Mass was written in 1887, in response to a request from Dvořák's friend and patron of the arts, Josef Hávla, for a work to be used at the consecration of his new private chapel. It has been described as "pure Dvořák, reflecting his humble faith and his true joy of life". It was scored for chorus and soloists, but the composer also suggested that the soloists could be replaced by a semi-chorus of four singers per part. It is this version that we will be performing.

Louis Vierne is less well known as a composer than Dvořák, and he was primarily an organist. He wrote this mass in 1899 when he was assistant to Charles-Marie Widor at the Paris Church of St. Sulpice, where it had its first performance, with Widor and Vierne the two organists. Shortly afterwards, Vierne was appointed as Organist to Notre Dame Cathedral, where he worked until his death. We will be interspersing sections of the Mass with anthems written by Vierne.

Do come and join us in Tewkesbury Abbey, an ideal setting for this concert of works by Dvořák and Vierne.

It is an opportunity to hear attractive, seldom performed, music for chorus and organ.