WORLD LISZT DAY
“Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit.” Liszt’s monumental Christus oratorio begins with these words taken from the Old Testament book of Isaiah and the Rorate coeli Gregorian melody. The work will be performed in several places around the world on the most important day of the bicentennial year, October 22, the day of the composer’s birth. Just as in 2009 World Creation Day made Haydn’s Creation oratorio a shared musical experience on several continents, on World Liszt Day in 2011 this three-part work in 14 movements will be a shared pleasure for many.
Already in the 19thcentury and right up to the present the oratorio, that narrates the story of Jesus Christ from the cradle to the grave, from the manger in Bethlehem to the Resurrection, has been admired as the Romantic counterpart of the Messiah both by religious music lovers and by agnostics who find the divine presence merely in art. The Christus oratorio, based on texts from the Bible and the Catholic liturgy in Latin and lasting close to three hours was first performed in May 1873 before a devout audience – in Weimar, conducted by the composer. Then in November of the same year the grandiose work was performed in the Pest Vigadó under the baton of János Richter: this Hungarian première was held to mark the 50thanniversary of Liszt’s career in music.
In the work purely orchestral movements alternate with sections for vocal soloists, choir and orchestra, or for choir with only organ accompaniment. The passages evoking the life of Christ, the prayers linked to the liturgy and reflections on the passion story are mystical rather than dramaturgical and form a whole based on the re-experiencing of the sacred story. The music of the oratorio, which is linked to Liszt’s Rome period, bears the imprint of many of his earlier style features and also foreshadows what was to be the idiom of his late period: passages recalling mediaeval Gregorian sequences alternate with almost ascetically refined and richly orchestrated, at times Romantic operatic gestures, reflecting in many places the influence of Bach and Palestrina and with some solutions that point directly forward to the art of Bartók. One such passage is the 4thmovement, Hirtengesang an der Krippe (Shepherds’ song at the manger). The Franz Liszt Memorial Museum and Research Centre plans to publish a facsimile edition of the manuscript of this movement for the World Liszt Day on October 22.
On the occasion of the Liszt bicentenary the coordinator of the Liszt Year 2011 in Hungary, the Hungarofest Nonprofit Kft. KLASSZ Zenei Iroda and the Hungarian Music Council are initiating the establishment of an international cooperation and within this frame it is proclaiming the World Liszt Day project on the 200thanniversary of the birth of Franz Liszt.
The aim of the project is for Franz Liszt’s Christus oratorio, a monumental work in the composer’s oeuvre, to be performed in concert halls around the world as the highlight of the commemoration on October 22, 2011, uniting events of the Liszt Year around the world in one great meeting point.
A special website will be devoted to the World Liszt Day project and its events, with a map of the world showing the places where the Christus oratorio will be performed on this day.
