MIDSUMMER MOZARTIADE
REQUIEM IN D MINOR K. 626
MUSIC BY WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
ARRANGED BY HENRICH LUDWIG RITTER VON SPENGEL
ARRANGED BY HENRICH LUDWIG RITTER VON SPENGEL
Aurélie Moreels, Amélie Renglet (sopranos)
Anaïs Brullez, Caroline de Mahieu, (altos)
Pierre Derhet, Thibaut Lenaerts (tenors)
Philippe Favette, Samuel Namotte (basses)
musicians of the Millenium Orchestra
Philippe Riga (organist)
Thibaut Lenaerts (musical director)
TICKETS 30€ | 25€ (Senior) | 15€ (Student)
Special rates for Seniors and Students are available at the box office (Galerie du Roi 32 - 1000 Brussels) or by phone (02 / 512 04 07) from Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 6pm.
You can also purchase tickets online (www.trg.be). The special rates for Seniors and Students are not available online. Online ticket prices include a 2€ handling fee per ticket.
Anaïs Brullez, Caroline de Mahieu, (altos)
Pierre Derhet, Thibaut Lenaerts (tenors)
Philippe Favette, Samuel Namotte (basses)
musicians of the Millenium Orchestra
Philippe Riga (organist)
Thibaut Lenaerts (musical director)
TICKETS 30€ | 25€ (Senior) | 15€ (Student)
Special rates for Seniors and Students are available at the box office (Galerie du Roi 32 - 1000 Brussels) or by phone (02 / 512 04 07) from Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 6pm.
You can also purchase tickets online (www.trg.be). The special rates for Seniors and Students are not available online. Online ticket prices include a 2€ handling fee per ticket.
True to the spirit of chamber music, this concert bears witness to Mozart's unique gift for stirring the soul and releasing the most intimate feelings through music. The result is an up-close encounter with a sacred work that is as rich in drama as it is in humanity.
According to legend, on 4 December 1791, Mozart felt well enough to run through a few passages of his unfinished Requiem. He was accompanied by a few comrades from The Magic Flute. Benedikt Schack, Tamino, sang the soprano part in falsetto; Mozart the alto; the violinist Franz Hofer, husband of Constanze's sister Josefa, Queen of the Night, sang the tenor; and Franz Gerl, Sarastro, the bass. It is said that Mozart burst into tears and could go no further when he tackled the Lacrimosa, of which he had written only the first eight bars. That night, his condition deteriorated and he died in the early hours of the next morning.
The Requiem is, therefore, only two-thirds Mozart's work, as death interrupted its composition. Franz Xaver Süßmayr, a young composer and pupil of Mozart, was eventually commissioned to complete it. None of this would prevent it, like The Magic Flute, from quickly becoming one of Mozart's best loved and most performed works. Adaptations were soon produced for domestic or public performance, as well as for liturgical purposes. One of these was an 1852 version by Bavarian official Heinrich Ludwig Ritter von Spengel, intended for small church choirs.
To bring this emblematic work closer and give it an even more personal touch, Thibaut Lenaerts and his colleagues from the CAV&MA have decided to approach it from the intimate perspective of chamber music. The reduction to seven instruments plus positive organ serves to make the melodic phrases more audible and the counterpoint more precise. Likewise, entrusting the vocal parts to eight singers, all members of the Namur Chamber Choir, contributes to greater transparency and interiority.
But what links the Requiem to The Magic Flute? Firstly, their poignant simultaneity. Mozart worked feverishly from his chambers to complete the former work, while the latter was celebrating a much-anticipated triumph on the stage of the Freihaustheater. Beyond this touching timing, however, these two striking works illustrate the transition from one stage of life to another. The Magic Flute describes the transition from childhood to adulthood, the Requiem the transition from this life to life eternal. So it seems only natural to present both masterpieces at this 7th edition of our festival.
According to legend, on 4 December 1791, Mozart felt well enough to run through a few passages of his unfinished Requiem. He was accompanied by a few comrades from The Magic Flute. Benedikt Schack, Tamino, sang the soprano part in falsetto; Mozart the alto; the violinist Franz Hofer, husband of Constanze's sister Josefa, Queen of the Night, sang the tenor; and Franz Gerl, Sarastro, the bass. It is said that Mozart burst into tears and could go no further when he tackled the Lacrimosa, of which he had written only the first eight bars. That night, his condition deteriorated and he died in the early hours of the next morning.
The Requiem is, therefore, only two-thirds Mozart's work, as death interrupted its composition. Franz Xaver Süßmayr, a young composer and pupil of Mozart, was eventually commissioned to complete it. None of this would prevent it, like The Magic Flute, from quickly becoming one of Mozart's best loved and most performed works. Adaptations were soon produced for domestic or public performance, as well as for liturgical purposes. One of these was an 1852 version by Bavarian official Heinrich Ludwig Ritter von Spengel, intended for small church choirs.
To bring this emblematic work closer and give it an even more personal touch, Thibaut Lenaerts and his colleagues from the CAV&MA have decided to approach it from the intimate perspective of chamber music. The reduction to seven instruments plus positive organ serves to make the melodic phrases more audible and the counterpoint more precise. Likewise, entrusting the vocal parts to eight singers, all members of the Namur Chamber Choir, contributes to greater transparency and interiority.
But what links the Requiem to The Magic Flute? Firstly, their poignant simultaneity. Mozart worked feverishly from his chambers to complete the former work, while the latter was celebrating a much-anticipated triumph on the stage of the Freihaustheater. Beyond this touching timing, however, these two striking works illustrate the transition from one stage of life to another. The Magic Flute describes the transition from childhood to adulthood, the Requiem the transition from this life to life eternal. So it seems only natural to present both masterpieces at this 7th edition of our festival.
Belgian tenor and conductor Thibaut Lenaerts graduated from the Royal Conservatories of Liège and Mons. He has performed as a soloist under the batons of William Christie, Hervé Niquet, Guy Van Waas, Louis Langrée, Jean Tubéry, Patrick Davin, Marc Minkowski, Philippe Herreweghe, etc. An active member of the Namur Chamber Choir, he has also been assistant to conductor Leonardo Garcia Alarcon since 2014. He teaches at the Royal Conservatories of Brussels and Liège. During the Mozartiade in 2022, his conducting of Handel's 'Acis and Galatea' was praised by the press as "precise and rhythmic, sensual and lively".
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