MASS IN D MAJOR / JOHANN GOTTLOB HARRER | INAUGURATION OF THE FESTIVAL

Johann Gottlob Harrer (1703–1755) received his musical education in Italy thanks to the patronage of Heinrich Brühl. The high-ranking official and favourite of Augustus III of Saxony must have been firmly convinced of Harrer’s talent, since he employed him for nearly twenty years as his Kapellmeister and later, in 1750, recommended him for the prestigious post of cantor at St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig. Thus, Harrer became the direct successor of the great Johann Sebastian Bach and held this distinguished position until his death in 1755.

Harrer’s Mass in D major, preserved in a Dresden manuscript (D-Dl, Mus.2740-D-2), was composed in 1735, at a time when the composer was staying in Warsaw, probably already as a musician in Chancellor Brühl’s ensemble. The composer most likely arrived in the Polish capital in the autumn of 1734 in the entourage of King Augustus III, and presumably left for Dresden with him in August 1736. He had, however, visited Warsaw before and served there – at least in 1732 – as a so-called supernumerarius in the Polish court ensemble of King Augustus II. It may therefore be assumed that the Mass in D major was most likely intended for Warsaw and, if it was performed there, that it was given by the combined forces of the royal singers, the musicians of Brühl’s ensemble, and members of the ensemble of the Collegiate Church of St. John. Elaborate in form and ceremonial in character, the Mass in D major is one of Harrer’s most important sacred works. Although its monumental form is rooted in the Baroque tradition and its handling of sonority draws on the achievements of the Italian masters, the lightness of texture and refined melodic lines characteristic of the galant style already foreshadow a new era.

Marta Dziewanowska-Pachowska

PROGRAM

Johann Gottlob Harrer (1703-1755) – Mass in D major HarWV 32

I Kyrie – Christe – Kyrie
II Gloria – Qui tollis – Quoniam – Cum Sancto Spiritu
III Credo – Crucifixus – Et resurrexit – Et vitam
IV Sanctus
V Benedictus – Osanna
VI Agnus Dei – Dona nobis pacem

PERFORMERS

MARTA BOBERSKA SOPRANO 

JAKUB FOLTAK COUNTERTENOR  

JACEK SZPONARSKI TENOR  

MICHAŁ DEMBIŃSKI BASS  

THE CHAMBER CHOIR OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA

THE PERIOD INSTRUMENTS ENSEMBLE OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA CAPELLA REGIA POLONA

JAKUB SZAFRAŃSKI CHAMBER CHOIR MASTER

KRZYSZTOF GARSTKA HARPSICHORD/POSITIVE ORGAN, CONDUCTOR

Duration: approx. 1h

The seats in the auditorium are not numbered.