TWC Virtual Performance
The Washington Chorus is thrilled to announce the release of its first ever virtual performance! TWC performs Josef Rheinberger’s Abendlied, under the direction of Christopher Bell.
Though the virtual format is new for the choir, the repertoire is not! The Washington Chorus most recently performed this stunning motet live at The Kennedy Center on November 16, 2019, in addition to Mozart’s famous Requiem.
Though it has been hard not singing in-person together, TWC has found this project to be very important and uplifting. One soprano in the chorus, Nancy Kuhn, explains why singing this piece virtually was so important to her:
“Abendlied is a beautiful piece on many levels, and so singing it with my talented colleagues at TWC at any time is a privilege. However, my joy in singing Abendlied for our TWC virtual performance was that it was a return to some form of normalcy for just a few minutes. It was the hope that another beautiful polished performance would enable TWC to offer this amazing piece to our friends new and old, and give them a sense that everything would eventually be ok through the power of music.”
Bass Ryan Farhat-Sabet believes that, despite the virtual format, singing with The Washington Chorus has kept him grounded during a significant change in his life:
"I moved to DC not long ago, and amidst all the changes that come with living in a new place, singing with The Washington Chorus felt comforting and gave me community. Even as I haven't been able to see them in person for a few months now, being able to sing with this group one last time with Christopher at our helm reminded me of that community that I hold dear."
Please enjoy TWC’s Virtual Performance of Rheinberger’s Abendlied!
Abendlied
Josef Rheinberger (1839 - 1901)
Program note by Missy Curl
To fully appreciate Josef Rheinberger’s Abendlied is to not only recognize his rare compositional prowess from a young age, but also to understand his unique ability to blend Romantic and Renaissance idioms. Rheinberger began serving an organist at a church in the capital of Liechtenstein when he was seven years old, and began his studies at the Munich Conservatory when he was twelve. At fifteen years of age, he wrote the first draft of the Abendlied, which would eventually become one of his most celebrated compositions. Almost ten years later, he made minor edits to the work and completed its final draft. When Rheinberger was thirty-four years old, Abendlied was published as the third piece of his Three Sacred Songs for Mixed Choir. As the formation of the first draft to the publication of Abendlied spans virtually twenty years, this special piece of sacred choral music carried Rheinberger from adolescence to adulthood, acting as a “coming-of-age” composition....
Rheinberger was trained primarily as an organist, which of course includes extensive study in counterpoint and Bach’s music. However, as a 19th century composer who spent most of his life in Germany, he was highly influenced by Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms (his contemporary). Abendlied combines Renaissance and Baroque voice-leading with the emotional harmonic language that is associated with Romanticism. The staggered vocal entries, stepwise and lyrical melodies, imitations between voice parts, and dissonant suspensions found in Abendlied are reminiscent of a Palestrina-like style, while the chord progressions themselves feature an expression more indicative of 19th century inspirations. For example, in the first half of the piece, the work is centered around F major on the text “Bleib bei uns” (stay with us), and arrives at a climactic E-flat major chord on the word “Abend” (meaning “evening”) and ends on an ominous D major chord, indicating a lead into a mourning, introspective G minor. The second half of the piece begins in G minor with the first sopranos entering alone on the new text “Und der Tag hat sich geneiget” (And the day is ending), but within the first few phrases, it resolves back to F major and repeats the opening material. However, with the new text, Rheinberger staggers the vocal entries slowly in ascending order (from bass to soprano) to build tension for dramatic effect. This, in conjunction with two deceptive cadences (progressions that “should” end in F major but instead end in D minor), create a “Sehnsucht” (longing) effect, a central principle in German Romanticism. Rheinberger is able to relieve this “longing” through descending lines (beginning with the soprano and repeating in the lower voices- the exact opposite of how he initially built the tension). The piece ends peacefully, on a warm, gentle F major triad.
The text of the work is from Luke 24:29, where Jesus appears to two disciples after his resurrection. They are all travelling on the road to Emmaus, and after they speak, Jesus indicates that he is going another direction, but the two disciples say, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” Perhaps Rheinberger found this text comforting as he grew up, recognizing the all-encompassing comfort and joy that can come from a simple act of hospitality, and the love that can be felt by offering kindness and warmth to a fellow human.