SACRUM ET PROFANUM
Missa brevis by Apor Szüts is an interesting attempt to combine virtuoso romantic music with the ethereal choral music of the 20th and 21st centuries, guaranteeing a unique experience for both performer and listener. The composition follows the classical structure of the Mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei. The Kyrie is the centrepiece of the work, with its theme recurring in a rondo-like manner, linking the movements and concluding the work at the end of the Agnus Dei. The Credo is replaced by Schubert’s song Doppelgänger, at the dramatic middle and low point of the piece. The song has the same structure of dramaturgy as the Mass itself: it starts in a domed structure from nowhere and continues into nowhere, like a little “doppelganger”.
In the second half of the concert, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 will be performed: a musical work with an unusually serene tone, reflecting the composer’s general mood at the time. According to a friend, Beethoven was in a ‘jolly, lively, vivacious, fun-loving mood’ at the time, and his Symphony No. 4 spreads the same spirit. According to Robert Schumann, it is Beethoven’s most romantic symphony, a tribute to his love for Josephine Brunsvik.
