Always defying the odds, the Valletta International Baroque Festival has secured four unmissable appointments for sacred music lovers in January.

The Church, in the same way as the State and the aristocracy, tradititionally established itself as a major patron of the arts.

A substantial number of sacred baroque music was, in fact, written specifically to be performed as part of a church service, whether Catholic, Lutheran or Anglican. The principal, sacred form during the Baroque period, was the musical setting of various liturgical rites known as masses. But the Baroque also had sacred musical forms which were particular to that time, especially the sacred cantata and the sacred oratorio.

Religious works, therefore, hold a special place in the development of the baroque musical idiom. The decision to incorporate four of these works in the programme of the upcoming Valletta International Baroque Festival is an acknowledgment of this importance.

The 2014 programme will kick off on January 10, when the local Goldberg and Anon Ensembles, directed by Michael Laus, will perform Handel’s Messiah at the church of Ta’ Ġieżu, one of the new venues for this year’s festival.

The work requires extensive preparation for the choir, both on the technical level and in order to infuse the correct stylistic elements

The two-and-a-half-hour-long master-piece, which was composed in 1741, was first performed in Dublin on April 13, 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.

The work is based on a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and from the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer and is an extended reflection on Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

The first part begins prophecies by Isaiah and others and moves to the annunciation to the shepherds, the only scene taken from the gospels. In the second part, Handel concentrates on the Passion and ends with the Hallelujah chorus. Part three then covers the resurrection of the dead and Christ’s glorification in heaven.

“I have been working with the Goldberg Ensemble on the Messiah for over four months already, and even though we have performed some selections from it last year, we have never performed the whole work,” Mro Laus, who counts Handel as one of his favourite baroque composers, said.

“The work requires extensive preparation for the choir, both on the technical level and in order to infuse the correct stylistic elements for a historically informed performance. The choir members are working on this project with energy and enthusiasm. Right now, we are working with the Anon Ensemble as well as with the solo singers. The two ensembles performed together in last January’s edition and also in a Holy Week concert at the Jesuits’ Church,” the maestro continued.

For the Messiah, there will be guest musicians performing with the Anon, all on baroque instruments. The work will be performed as a chamber version of the oratorio, with a string quintet, trumpet, organ and harpsichord.

“The choir will consist of 23 members, which is close to the number Handel would have had in Messiah performances during his lifetime.”

The second appointment with religious baroque music will be the staging of Bach’s monumental Mass in B Minor, which is to be performed by the English Concert under the baton of the celebrated Harry Bicket at St John’s Co-Cathedral on January 13.

Composed by the Lutheran J. S. Bach for Augustus the Strong when he was elected King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Mass in B Minor is a Roman Catholic Mass that is considered one of the greatest masses in musical history and one of the most awe-inspiring works from the Baroque era.

But what makes it such a grand piece?

“I feel it is its complexity, its enormity, its inability to be analysed in any rational way,” Zara June Roelse, from the English Concert, explained. “The piece takes listeners on a unique journey and is special because it is a compendium of Bach’s life’s work, not necessarily meant for total performance but rather a history of himself, an affirmation of faith.”

“We have performed it several times but the most memorable performance to date was definitely the BBC Proms in the summer of 2012. It was one of the first proms of the season to sell out, televised for BBC4. Having said that, performing it in Bach’s very own St Thomas Church in Leipzig was also a very moving experience. We are now really looking forward to executing this work in Malta’s St John’s Co-Cathedral and are very sure that the magnificence of the surroundings will contribute to the performance. Our outstanding 27-piece orchestra and 18 chorists, under the direction of Mro Bicket, will promise a special evening indeed,” added Roelse.

On January 18, Malta’s very own Valletta Baroque Festival Ensemble will perform the Monteverdi vespers at St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral. The Vespre della Beata Vergine 1610 are today more commonly referred to as Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers. The term vespers means evening prayers, which are taken from the Hours of the Divine Office, a set of daily prayers of the Catholic Church that have remained structurally unchanged for 1,500 years.

In scale, Monteverdi’s Vespers was the most ambitious work of religious music before Bach. This 90-minute piece includes soloists, chorus and orchestra and has both liturgical and extra-liturgical elements.

The work is, in every respect, one of the towering masterpieces of the Baroque era, summing up the best that music had to offer 400 years ago.

In fact, it is daring and grand in conception and structure and represents the very best of all the musical styles in Italy at the beginning of the 17th century.

The fourth religious work will be a special Bach meets Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater concert, also at St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral. This performance will feature international star countertenor Max Emmanuel Cencic, who will be performing alongside Les Cyclopes, a baroque music ensemble from France.

Bach never travelled to Italy, but during his frequent trips to Dresden, he never missed an opportunity to listen to Italian operas that were very popular at the court. Therefore, what makes the richness of his music, the flexibility of the melody, his sense of equilibrium and the power of harmony is the result of the precise and thorough knowledge he had of Italian music.

Thus, when a performance in 1740 of the Serva Padrona of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi drew Bach’s attention on this young genius composer, with some humility, old master Bach adapted, in 1747 in Leipzig, the German text of Psalm 51 to the Stabat Mater of the young Italian genius who perished at the age of 26.

The Valletta International Baroque Festival is being held between January 10 and 13. Two free tickets for the January 13 concert at St John’s Co-Cathedral are being offered on a complimentary basis with every two tickets for any other three or more performances bought.

www.vallettabaroquefestival.com.mt