Awe-Inspiring Music: The World Premiere of an Oratorio
Copyright: Linz09 / Kurt Groh
The Anton Bruckner Private University Linz is Upper Austria’s most important institution for musical education. The school’s faculty includes ORATORIO composer Till Alexander Körber, whose work “De Curru Igneo” will premiere this month in Linz’s Ursuline Church.
A bombing raid in November 1944 completely destroyed St. Martin’s Church in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. Till Alexander Körber studied in Freiburg. Now, he has composed a work of sacred music that commemorates the destruction of this magnificent ecclesiastical edifice, whose origins go back to the 13th century and which has subsequently been rebuilt. “De Curru Igneo” is structured like a prayer said at the canonical hours. Dramatic tones joined with Biblical texts depict the power of fire, which destroys and simultaneously creates the preconditions for new life to emerge. In the first part, fire represents communication with God, the burning flame standing for God’s self-revelation. The second portion is dominated by a melancholy aria. In the oratorio’s final part based on a text by Spanish mystic Saint John of the Cross, all is illuminated by the flame of love. This background and these motifs thus shed light on the meaning of the work’s Latin title: “De Curru Igneo” (Of the Chariot of Fire).Till Alexander Körber, recipient of the Province of Upper Austria’s Culture Prize for Music in 2008, teaches a class in piano and piano chamber music at Anton Bruckner Private University Linz. He studied piano, vocalist accompaniment and choral conducting at the Freiburg Conservatory. Since the late 1980s, Körber has won numerous prizes as a soloist and composer. His concerts and recording sessions take him around the world.
ORATORIO
December 7, 2009, 7:30 PM
Ursuline Church Linz, Landstr. 31, 4020 Linz
Info and tickets at www.linz09.at/oratorio
Ticket hotline +43 (0)664 / 828 38 60 (Monday-Friday 1-6 PM)
