On Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the Bergson Voices, our in-house choir consisting of outstanding amateur and professional singers, will dedicate themselves to the sacred works of Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) - a composer who translated the inner language of faith into music like no other.

The Three Psalms op. 78, in an extended version for choir and chamber ensemble, demonstrate Mendelssohn's ability to combine Baroque clarity with Romantic intimacy. Their urgency and consolation reach far beyond denominational boundaries.

With the motet "Verleih uns Frieden" (Grant us peace), simple yet penetrating, Mendelssohn sets Luther's plea for peace to music with a clarity that both shakes and sustains.

The Spiritual Songs for soprano and ensemble are more delicate, almost intimate like chamber music. Here, the personal relationship with the divine resounds like a prayer that detaches itself from everyday life and quietly reaches beyond it.

The centerpiece of the evening is Mendelssohn's great 42nd psalm "Wie der Hirsch schreit", which Schumann described as the "high point of contemporary church music". Between tonal drama and gentle pleading, a work unfolds that knows grief but does not remain in it. A psalm full of longing - and full of quiet hope for what is to come.

Instrumentation:

Bergson Voices

Bergson Phil'

Conductor: Johannes X. Schachtner

Program:

Felix Mendelssohn

• Three Psalms op. 78 (extended version for choir and chamber ensemble)

• Grant us peace (motet)

• Spiritual Songs (version for soprano and chamber ensemble)

• 42nd Psalm (As the Deer Cries)