Workshops

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy is, without doubt, one of the most important romantic composers, both for his instrumental and orchestral compositions and  for his long and valued coral production. Among other examples, the Symphony No. 2 in B flat, opus 52, Lobgesang, which is actually a symphonic cantata for orchestra, soloists and choir, is a wonderful synthesis of this double aspect.

This symphony was composed in Leipzig in 1840 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. The Lobgesang uses several biblical texts in the sheerest Lutheran style, putting the music at the service of sacred texts and religion. It is actually a description of the revelation and salvation of Christ, a process of darkness-light (sin-redemption), an argument that he also uses to pay tribute to the fact that printing gives light, it brings the holy texts  and the faithful closer together : this is the spirit that Mendelssohn wishes to  express with his symphonic cantata. Faithful to the great classics (remarkably Bach and Händel) Mendelssohn’s music is based on the structural and formal principles of his predecessors, whom he admired, but of course, making use of the harmonic principles of his time and of an enviable melodic inspiration. The structure of the Lobgesang (recitatives, aria, duos, choirs...) makes us think more about a cantata or Baroque oratory than about a model similar to that which Beethoven uses for his 9th. Symphony, which has a radically different approach.

In this symphonic choral  workshop we will also work on the suite by the same  composer's Ein Sommernachtstraum, Op.21 (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for orchestra, soloists and choir of children’s voices); the perfect complement to the opus above . Indeed, this incidental music composed to illustrate the comedy by W. Shakespeare (he wrote the opening when he was only 17!) contrasts the ideas of mortal- immortal as the Lobgesang does with the concepts of darkness-light, putting alongside two very close worlds, magic (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and religion (Lobgesang).

We are confident that both the singers and the wider audience that will attend the closing concert will enjoy this repertoire, under the experienced and warm direction of maestro Edmon Colomer. And by adding the magic of a special setting such as the  amphitheatre in Tarragona, at the foot of the Roman walls, we are sure that this musical soirée will remain in the memories and hearts of all those who will be able to enjoy it either singing or listening.