GAECHINGER CANTOREY

To mark the 300th anniversary of Ludwigsburg Stadtkirche, a special gala concert will be organised, featuring two significant works from the 18th century: Johann Adolf Hasse’s Miserere in C minor and Niccolò Jommelli’s »Missa pro defunctis« (Requiem). Both composers exemplify late Baroque European music – Hasse as a renowned opera composer in Dresden and Naples, and Jommelli as a court conductor in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg, as well as a composer of esteemed sacred music. Jommelli’s »Missa pro defunctis« holds particular importance – a solemn, monumental mass for the dead and the most celebrated work of its kind prior to Mozart’s unfinished Requiem. The »Missa pro defunctis« was composed in 1756 during Jommelli’s tenure as Kapellmeister at the court of Duke Carl Eugen of Württemberg, on the occasion of the death of the Duchess Mother Maria Augusta. The work subsequently gained wide popularity across Europe and was performed numerous times. Jommelli composed in the Neapolitan style, where the compelling choral movements are polyphonic in the stile antico, while the solo parts reflect the opera composer’s flair. Jommelli is regarded as a pioneer bridging the Baroque and Classical eras – and as a composer whose musical legacy continues to influence the culture of Ludwigsburg and Baden-Württemberg today.

A co-production with the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart