Freiburg Baroque Orchestra: Christmas concert

Program:
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach:
Magnificat in D major H. 772

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Missa in C minor KV 427

Ana Maria Labin, soprano
Sophie Harmsen, alto
Julian Habermann, Tenor
Tobias Berndt, bass
Gaechinger Cantorey
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
Hans-Christoph Rademann, conductor

"He is the father, we are the boys", with these words Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ennobled Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach as a great role model for himself and his contemporaries. In fact, Carl Philipp was the most famous member of the Bach family in the 18th century, not his father Johann Sebastian. This was not least due to his compositional innovation, which was to usher in a new era. His early Magnificat from 1749 already set him apart from his father, anticipating the elements of Sturm und Drang with its shimmering violins and reduced harmonies.

Hans-Christoph Rademann juxtaposes Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Magnificat with Mozart's incomplete Mass in C minor from 1782. At the time, Mozart was very interested in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Handel's influence is particularly evident in the Gloria, which is very similar to the "Hallelujah" from the Messiah. The aria "Et incarnatus est" is beguilingly beautiful and is now regarded as a declaration of love to Constanze Mozart, for whom he wrote the soprano part of the mass. It is therefore all the more regrettable that the Mass in C minor was probably never performed during Constanze's lifetime.