Easter Message from ...W.A.Mozart !

EASTER MESSAGE BY MOZART ...

In July 1791, about five months before his death, Mozart wrote a "Kleine Deutsche Kantate" (for soprano or tenor, with keyboard accompaniment , KV 619 ) on a text by Franz Heinrich Ziegenhagen. This poet was - like Mozart - a convinced freemason, who had asked Mozart to set his cantata-text  to music for a lodge meeting in Regensburg.  
 The idea of brotherhood is expressed very expressively in this work - obviously entirely in the literary style of the time. Even in our turbulent times, it is beneficial to pause at the core of this message and let it penetrate our souls! 
 
Read on for the translation (by Sig.K., 2021 )
 

Mozart - Requiem KV 626 - Kuijken String Quartet

Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853)

Transcriptions for string quartet by the composer or someone else was common practice in Mozarts time. In that light this string-version of Mozart's Requiem is nothing special. What makes it special, is the circumstance of the original Requiem itself. It is known that Mozart left the majority of the work incompleted, and that on request of Mozart's widow, his pupil Süssmayer did the finishing job. Where one's work ends and the other's starts, no-one knows. This 'skeleton-version' of the Requiem, however, fully preserves the eloquence of Mozart's music and therefore perhaps proves that the Requiem contains more of the masters own composing than we can objectively establish. But incomplete as the Requiem is, Mozart's universal genius radiates through the notes in any version. And if anyone can bring the radiation to the surface in this version, no one better than the Kuijken Kwartet.

A new CD by La Petite Bande ! Bach Cantatas BWV 72 , 156 and 92

Dear friends and fans of La Petite Bande, 

We would like to make a positive note in these corona times. At the end of November 2020 a new CD of La Petite Bande was released by the German CD company ACCENT, on which 3 beautiful cantatas by J.S.Bach can be heard: BWV 72, 156 and 92.
Although in a strict sense it is not typical "Christmas music", this Bach recording will certainly contribute heartwarmingly and thoughtfully to a deeper experience of this corona-coloured end-of-year period of 2020 and of the months to come ...

This new CD from LPB is available on the market - but can be delivered quickly via LPB itself, at the price of 26 € (shipping costs are included).
You can order by paying into the account of Votre Petite Bande:
IBAN:  BE 30 4310 6868  0111   (not   .... .... 6888 etc , as initially indicated by mistake  on this page, sorry!) 
BIC: KREDBEBB
Please clearly state your postal address when ordering ! (If you would like an invoice, please also mention 'invoice').

EXTRAORDINARY ACTION

To support the music and the musicians in this CORONA time:
24 hours non stop Palestrina-music in the Cathedral of Augsburg !  
 
On the 20th and 21st of November (the eve of St Cecilia, patron saint of music !) from 6pm until 6 pm, Thomas E. Bauer, well-known German singer and driving force behind the unique Konzerthaus in Blaibach (near Regensburg, Bavaria) organizes from the splendid  Cathedral in AUGSBURG  a "streaming" with live-performances of works by Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 -1597)
 
We, Sigiswald Kuijken and Marleen Thiers sympathise wholeheartedly with this initiative!

CORONA - ANNULATIONS ...

As was to be expected, also La Petite Bande has been (and still is) very severely hit by the international  wave of annulations of cultural events, provoked by the Corona crisis. Everywhere, organisors see their programmation for the season  2020-2021  seriously perturbed .  In fact, LPB lost all of its concerts since March 2020...
 
-  The Bach-concert for the CC in Wezembeek-Oppem (near Brussels), including concertos for harpsichord(s) and strings as well as a violin-concerto, was originally planned for March 2020, then postponed to June 13th, and then once more to January 9th 2021... Also this January date has finally been canceled: the program is is now scheduled for September 30th 2021 - The CD-recording of this program for ACCENT will be made  in the days following this concert.  

-  Of the magnificent cycle of 4 week-ends with Bach-Cantatas which the Konzerthaus in Baibach (Bavaria) scheduled with LPB in 2020, the first (in February) has been a very beautiful experience, resulting in the CD recording of 3 Cantates (BWV 72, 156 and 92). This CD just came out  January 2021(see advertisement on this site)
The three following weekends however, originally scheduled in July, September and December '20, had to be canceled (including the corresponding CD recording after each period) because of  the Bavarian corona regulations ... We are very sad about  this: it was a great project !

- The LPB Summer Academy in Italy (Collevecchio, in Lazio), scheduled in August 2020, could not  be organized in the given circumstances ... But in thIs year 2021, it will take place from 19th to 31st of July 2021, with slight variations in  the program as announced for the summer 2020: it wil indeed focus on baroque music at pitch A 415 - but in stead of coaching Mozarts Idomeneo , Marie Kuijken will work wirh the singers on the brilliant comic intermezzo "La Serva Scaltra" by J.A.Hasse (Naples 1729)  -- Very soon, you will find all the detailed info about the 2021 Academy on the page "Summer Academy" on this site .  


-   LPB's three Matthew-Passion performances by LPB in Japan , first scheduled in beginning November 2020 and the postponed to the end of January 2021, and then again canceled , are rescheduled for ...2024  before Easter.

 But :  a good news from Japan: from October 1st to 10th , 2022 , LPB will make a tour in Japan with  Bach's Brandenburg concertos nrs 3 to 6 + the trio sonate from Bach's "Musical Offering"  . 

 
 In the field of chamber music conserts  - mostly by members of the Kuijken family-  there has been considerable change as well - please consult the calender on this website...

 Also Sigiswalds engagements as an individual musician , with other institutes or orchestras,, could not escape from the corona-crisis : 
-  The 3 performances in Israël of Bach's Matthew-Passion with Jerusalem  Baroque Orchestra led by Sigiswald , in this  March (2021) are postponed to March 2022.
-  The 3 concerts in the Netherlands with Students of The Hague Conservatory and members of the Orchestra of the 18th century, also in this march  2021 have been replaced by a professional video-recording of the program in the conservatory during the same dates... On the program: Haydn's orchestral version of 'Seven last words of Jesus Christ "and  the symphony nr 99 by the same composer. 

 

New book: “MY MOZART ... HIS MAGIC FLUTE”

Sigiswald and Mozart became a unity in this book.
Mozarts Magic Flute is being revealed here in its essence by Sigiswald, in a loving and simple way - without over-intellectual reflexions, nor trendy ‘new interpretations’.

More information

Message by Sigiswald Kuijken

As you might know, for reasons that are not properly understood the Flemish Government terminated its guaranteed annual financial support for La Petite from January 1st 2013: we are the only Belgian orchestra to be treated in this manner, despite our international reputation and extensive discography and contribution to Belgian, European and indeed worldwide musical life. The loss of Government financial support has put La Petite Bande in serious financial difficulties, and we are all working very hard to raise money to ensure that our unique orchestra can continue its work. We are sure that we will succeed, but to do so we need your support, to ensure that we will be able to continue our work and make music!
More information to support the orchestra, as explained by Sigiswald, can be found here:

Joining the new 'LPB Friend group'