Geniestreich

In the organizer's words:

Program
Hector Berlioz
Mass solennelle
1824

Cast
Bach-Verein Köln
Sofia Poulopoulou soprano
Fabián Lara Tenor
Valentin Ruckebier Bass
Christoph Siebert Conductor

Bach-Verein Köln in cooperation with Gürzenich-Orchester Köln and Netzwerk Kölner Chöre

Hector Berlioz had barely dropped out of medical school when he hit the bull's eye as a composer: at just 20, his first big hit, straight to the bull's eye. And - the exuberance of youth - in a monumental format: 13 movements, three soloists, a large choir and an opulent orchestra fill the room with music in the Messe solennelle, sometimes full of dignity and grandeur, then again jubilant and storming towards the heavens. But this is also typical of a young, highly gifted composer: the dissatisfaction with what he has hurled out of himself with unbridled force is not long in coming. Berlioz soon wanted nothing more to do with his Messe solennelle and simply claimed that he had destroyed the sheet music. Over, out, away with it. But then, more than 150 years later, the big surprise: the young man had twisted the truth a little at the time, because the score of the mass actually turned up again in the gallery of a church in Antwerp. It is now one of the public's favorites as far as great Romantic choral music is concerned. And with so much beauty, it's no wonder.

Price information:

from 16,00€ Tickets from 06.11.2025