The 10th, anniversary summer festival of the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra always fascinated the listeners with an excellent program and a good place for music - June evenings are always very bright and romantic, so open-air concerts attract crowds of listeners. The 30th concert season that just ended was full of surprises and surprises. This, also the jubilee, LVSO summer festival is not far behind - for the Day of Mourning and Hope on June 14. The orchestra prepared a special program in the courtyard of the Ministry of Interior (Šventaragio str. 2).- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Requiem.
Together with the orchestra led by maestro Gintaras Rinkevičius, soloists Vida Miknevičiūtė (soprano), Nora Petročenko (mezzo-soprano), Edgaras Davidovičius (tenor) and Raimundas Juzuitis (bass) will appear on stage. We will also see you on stage Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre choir (art director Česlovas Radžiūnas).
On the Day of Mourning and Hope, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra will perform one of the most wonderful works in the world - "Requiem" by WA Mozart (1756–1791) for four soloists, choir and symphony orchestra. The work started by WA Mozart in the last years of his life remained unfinished - instead, it is shrouded in mystery and legend. One is that WA Mozart, when writing the commissioned work, had a premonition that he was writing it… for his own funeral. Already gravely ill and sensing his impending death, the composer asked his students to complete the work - using WA Mozart's sketches, the composer's style and repetitions, they completed the Requiem score after the great composer's death. The work became a kind of meditation on human destiny, a journey through everyone's life and feelings.
WA Mozart composed relatively little church music. While serving in the archbishop's court, he wrote about 15 masses and other works of church music. While living in Vienna, he hardly made such music. Most impressive is the Requiem in D minor (KV 626), WA Mozart's final, unfinished work for four soloists, mixed choir and orchestra.
According to legend, WA Mozart was visited by a stranger dressed in black and commissioned the composer to write a mourning mass. About this visit, a couple of months before his death, the composer wrote in a letter: "I cannot forget this stranger, he stands before my eyes - begging, chasing, demanding. I continue because work bothers me less than rest. <…> I feel, I have a feeling that my hour has come; I am going to die; I will meet her before I can celebrate my talent. Life was so beautiful, it had so much promise, but you can't change what's meant to be. No one knows how many days are left, you have to surrender to fate. I finish because I have a dirge waiting for me, which I must finish."
WA Mozart took up this commission and composed masses intermittently. He did it especially actively in the last months of his life, but he never managed to complete the entire cycle. The Requiem was completed by WA Mozart's pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayr (1766-1803). The work consists of 12 parts. Particularly memorable are "Dies irae" ("The Wrathful Day") and "Lacrimosa" ("The Sorrowful One"). "Dies irae" is particularly dramatic, active, depicting the horror of death and people's pleas for mercy. "Lacrimosa" is an oasis of peace, characterized by delicate lyrics, accumulated laments, painful sighs between the words.
This magical music always causes shouts of admiration, which after the evocative music is like the realization that after several hundred years this music is still relevant and exciting.
Summer Festival of the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra concert WA Mozart's Requiem will take place on June 14. 20 p.m. in the yard of the Ministry of Interior (Šventaragio St. 2). You can buy tickets at Tiketos, Teatrai.lt and Vilnius Congress Palace ticket offices.
Author: Kristupas Antanaitis
