Anton Bruckner
Ouvertüre in g-moll

Anton Bruckner
„Christus factus est“ WAB 11

Anton Bruckner
„Ave Maria“ WAB 6
für siebenstimmigen Chor a cappella

Anton Bruckner
Psalm 112

Anton Bruckner
Messe Nr.1 in d-moll

Programmablauf
mit eingeschobenen Orgel-Improvisationen von Sebastian Heindl

The RIAS Kammerchor Berlin dedicates this concert to the early works of Anton Bruckner on his 200th birthday - under the direction of Łukasz Borowicz and together with the Academy for Early Music Berlin.

Anton Bruckner, born 200 years ago in Ansfelden, Upper Austria, once said in retrospect that he “grew up listening to church music”. His father, who in addition to his teaching job also served as a local organist and choir director, introduced him to sacred music at an early age. At the age of 13, Anton Bruckner entered St. Florian Abbey as a choir boy and received excellent organ and composition training there. However, Bruckner, who was constantly plagued by self-doubt, only made the decision to become a professional musician many years later, when he took over the position of Linz Cathedral organist. In this position he began to appear publicly as a composer at the beginning of the 1860s - consequently, initially with sacred works.

The RIAS Chamber Choir under the direction of Łukasz Borowicz, together with the Academy for Early Music Berlin, has been exploring this early repertoire in historical sound since 2017. This successful collaboration will now be continued in the Bruckner year 2024 with the Mass in D minor, a work from 1864 that Bruckner himself saw as the “beginning of the actual period of composition”. The composer's path to modern, symphonic church music can be seen here as an example. The mass remained very popular for decades, even as Bruckner became increasingly known as a symphonist towards the end of his life. The music critic Theodor Helm wrote in 1893: “Sometimes I really have doubts about who is greater in our Bruckner: the master of the symphony or the master of church music. Let’s count ourselves lucky that we own both!”

Cooperation: Musikfest Berlin