800 years of "The Canticle of the Sun of St. Francis", Johann Sebastian Bach: Magnficat BWV 243, Thilo von Westernhagen: "Il Cantico di Frate sole"
Amrei Beuerle (soprano), Monika von Westernhagen (alto), Nico Eckert (tenor), Cornelius Lewenberg (bass), St. Laurentius Schönberg church choir, Dönkendorf choir (rehearsed by Monika von Westernhagen), Strelitz chamber orchestra, Norbert Drechsler (organ), KMD Christoph D. Minke (conductor)
For the festive conclusion of the 38th Schönberg Music Summer, two choirs from our region are joining forces with the solos and the Strelitz Chamber Orchestra to perform Johann Sebastian Bach's Magnficat and the oratorio "Il Cantico di frate sole" by Thilo von Westernhagen.
The background to this is that the text of the "Canticle of the Sun" was written 800 years ago. It is considered to be the oldest testimony to Italian vernacular literature. St. Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226) wrote this hymn when he already felt that he was approaching the end of his life. True to biblical theology, the whole of nature is seen as a creation, which therefore does not itself become the object of worship, but sings praise and adoration to the Creator in its entirety with humans and all imaginable heavenly beings. It is obvious that this has always been a welcome invitation to set music. What is particularly remarkable, however, is that Francis also included death as part of creation and, like the sun and moon, described it as a "brother" and regarded it as just, since no human being can escape it, and yet in his view it represented a station to life.
Thilo von Westernhagen, who sadly died far too early 10 years ago, composed a very varied and colorfully orchestrated score that impressively illustrates the individual elements of the verses, such as water, fire and wind. At the same time, it builds a bridge from the Middle Ages to the present day by making room for both monophonic singing and irregular time signatures.
With Bach's Magnificat, the Canticle of the Sun is juxtaposed with a work in which, as with St. Francis, a divine form of justice is sung, as the text from the Gospel of Luke states: "He brings down the mighty from their thrones and lifts up the lowly". This is how Mary is said to have sung when the angel announced the birth of her son, Jesus.
Mary's song of praise and Francis' Canticle of the Sun - sung words of a vision of another world in the midst of our world!
