{"id":4542,"date":"2023-05-16T10:59:41","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T08:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liedercompany.cz\/uncategorized\/songs-to-the-virgin-mary\/"},"modified":"2024-01-21T15:54:41","modified_gmt":"2024-01-21T14:54:41","slug":"songs-to-the-virgin-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liedercompany.cz\/en\/article\/songs-to-the-virgin-mary\/","title":{"rendered":"Songs to the Virgin Mary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the context of the Lieder Company Prague<\/strong> concerts, this is an exceptional evening in which we will exchange the concert hall for an intimate church setting, the piano for the sound of the organ and listen to rarely performed Czech sacred vocal music of the last two centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This repertoire remains, unjustly, a kind of overlooked – undoubtedly due to the long years of domination by the totalitarian regime, anti-religious restrictions and cultural dictatorship, which violently interrupted the centuries-long tradition of Czech sacred music. During the communist era, composers associated with the church environment were persecuted, often, despite their undeniable qualities, stood outside the official sphere, and their work, without the possibility of performance and publication, fell into oblivion.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Although after 1989 there was a boom in composing and performing sacred music, the trend of the gradual secularization of society has unfortunately not been reversed and this area continues to be of no interest to musicologists, performers and organizers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dramaturgy of this concert focuses on Marian-themed songs by Czech composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Mary, the Mother of God, has always been loved, worshipped and sung in an extraordinary way throughout the Christian world. This was no different during the difficult 20th century, when man’s faith was so often tempted. It was then that Marian veneration in music had a wide scope and often brought comfort and hope. This is evidenced, for example, by the enormous number of Marian songs (Ave Maria, Hail Queen, Queen of Peace, etc.) composed during the war years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The audience will have the opportunity to hear a selection of the most interesting rarely performed Marian songs by important Czech composers performed by top artists – soprano Irena Troupov\u00e1<\/strong>, an excellent interpreter of (not only) contemporary music, mezzo-soprano Lucie Hilscherov\u00e1<\/strong>, a sought-after singer in both song and oratorio, violinist \u0160t\u011bp\u00e1n Je\u017eek<\/strong>, a member of the renowned Bennewitz Quartet, and Linda S\u00edtkov\u00e1<\/strong>, one of our finest organ performers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The programme is framed by two world premieres of works composed for this evening. At the beginning will be performed Four Songs to the Virgin Mary<\/em> for middle voice and organ by Jan Bern\u00e1tek<\/strong>, written in January 2023 and dedicated to Lucie Hilscher and Linda S\u00edtkov\u00e1. The concert will close with Olga Je\u017ekov\u00e1<\/strong>‘s diptych Invocation of the Virgin Mary<\/em> for soprano, alto, violin and organ, in which the previous performers will be joined by soprano Irena Troupov\u00e1 and the composer’s son, violinist \u0160t\u011bp\u00e1n Je\u017eek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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