Musica Sacra Concerts

“I have long been attracted and greatly interested in the composition of church music,” wrote Liszt in 1855 Baron Antal Augusz. Two years later he wrote: “the church composer is both preacher and priest, and where the word is not enough to express the sentiment, the voice gives it wings and transfigures it”.

From the age of 40, these sentences gained increasing emphasis in his oeuvre and activity: he left behind some 60 predominantly vocal and 30 organ works composed on sacred themes – some of which he published in several versions.

Hungarian music today wishes to pay tribute to the sacred art of the brilliant composer with a series of concerts covering the whole of the church oeuvre to be held in the above churches, with particular regard to the fact that Franz Liszt had personal ties to both churches.

The masses, the compositions that can be incorporated into the Roman Catholic liturgy and the organ works will be performed in the Inner City Parish Church. The special feature of the masses is that they will be performed in an environment corresponding to their original liturgical use, incorporated into the Tridentine rite mass customary in Liszt’s time – in the same way as the Haydn masses performed in 2009. The oratorios and other works on sacred themes – requiring an orchestra or larger instrumental ensemble – will be heard in the Parish Church of Saint Teresa of Avila.

The performers include outstanding professional soloists and ensembles, as well as choirs, schola and youth ensembles with a church background, regularly serving in churches.

In 1869, when he was writing the Szekszárd Mass, Liszt wrote to the Antal Augusz mentioned above: “More than ever before, I insist on the correctness, purity, suitability and transparency of the musical language.”

The series strives for a fitting performance in this spirit of the legacy of the greatest composer of Hungarian church music.

Tamás Bubnó, artistic director

With: Concerto Budapest, Debrecen Philharmonic Orchestra, Ventoscala Symphony Orchestra, Inner City Strings, MR Choir, Debrecen Kodály Choir, Honvéd Male Choir, Budapest Tomkins Vocal Ensemble, Choir of the National Széchenyi Library, Budapest Choir, Choir of the Inner City Parish Church, Choir of the Department of Church Music of the Franz Liszt University of Music, Budapest Singing School, Saint Ephraim Male Choir, László Fassang, József Kelemen, Miklós Teleki, András Virágh, András Gábor Virágh