Josef Gabriel Rheinberger: Cantus Missae. Musica sacra II

Featuring

Frieder Bernius
Margit-Anna Süß
Sonntraud Engels-Benz
Johannes-Christoph Happel
Kammerchor Stuttgart
Ensemble '76

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger

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Composer Biography

Rheinberger moved to Munich at age twelve to study at the Conservatoire and remained there until his death, becoming a significant figure in the city's musical life.

Composer Biography

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, born in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, showed exceptional musical talent from a young age, playing the organ for church services and composing small pieces by age seven.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Rheinberger believed that true music required a perfect command of traditional compositional craft, rejecting "planless dreaming" in music as mere weakness of invention.

Composition History

Rheinberger composed his Stabat Mater op. 138 as a vow, promising to write it if an open ulcer on his right hand improved, which it did in the summer of 1884.

Critical Reception

Rheinberger's Missa Es-Dur was enthusiastically called the "most beautiful pure vocal Mass of the 19th century" by Otto Ursprung, a musicologist.

Composition History

The Missa Es-Dur (Cantus Missae) op. 109 was composed by Rheinberger in just five days, between January 13 and 18, 1878.

Performer Biography

The Kammerchor Stuttgart, conducted by Frieder Bernius, has mastered the entire European choral repertoire from early Baroque to 21st-century works and has released over 70 CD productions, many of which have won international awards.