The 76th Seoul Art Song Research Society Regular Concert: Lobgesang

[PERFORMANCE INTRODUCTION] In Western music history, vocal music has developed into two main categories: secular and religious themes. With the birth of dramatic music in the early 1600s, opera with secular themes and oratorio with religious themes became important genres during the Baroque period. Art songs then developed through the Classical period and 19th-century Romanticism, with art songs in various languages—German, French, English, and American—being composed to poetry of both religious and secular themes. The Seoul Art Song Research Society's 74th Regular Concert features vocal music with religious themes, which occupy an important place in vocal literature, organized with diverse repertoire from Germany, France, England, and America. The first half opens with German literature, beginning with arias from J. S. Bach's "Johannes Passion," a Baroque composer, and arias from F. Mendelssohn's oratorio "Elijah," who was influenced by Bach and played an important role in promoting his music. It continues with J. Brahms' "Vier ernste Gesänge" (Four Serious Songs), composed to texts from biblical proverbs, and A. Dvořák's "Biblické písně" (Biblical Songs), composed to psalms, all performed in German. The second half features excerpts from French composer A. Honegger's "Le Roi David" (King David), French religious songs by C. Gounod, Ralph Vaughan Williams' religious work "Five mystical songs" from England, and American composer Ned Rorem's "Cycle of Holy Songs," composed to psalm texts, creating a program of religious music in various languages.