9 WEEKS OF BAROQUE FESTIVAL

CONCERT MASS / ARCHDEACON CHURCH OF KLATOVY
12 July | Sunday 10:00am – 12:00pm
The Collegium for Sacred Music of Klatovy presents the music of Baroque masters in the form of worship.

The city's parish church was built shortly after the foundation of the city in the second half of the 13th century. By the end of the 14th century, the parish church became a ruin at risk of total collapse. After its first reconstruction, the parish church became the richest and most beautifully fitted structure within the entire deanery of Klatovy. However, its greatest glory is associated with the worship of the Marian Image. The miracle, when the image of the Mother of God first began to shed tears of blood, occured in 1685. After its relocation to the Archdeacon Church, it soon became a major pilgrimage destination. This came with the need to improve and redecorate the interior of the altar area in the contemporary Baroque style. The early Baroque altars were provided with several fine sculptures from the workshop of the sculptor M. V. Jaecl. The last major reconstruction was carried out during the years 1898-1908 by the architect Josef Fanta. During this period, the Baroque modifications to the church and its external appearance were deliberately removed to adapt the appearance to the original engraving by Jan Willenberg, which showed Klatovy in 1602, and it was supplemented by certain Neo-Gothic elements.

PROGRAMME
The peak of this year's Klatovy celebrations on the occasion of the 330th jubilee of the miracle of the local Marian Image, which began to shed blood on 8 July, 1685 and soon became famous for its numerous miracles, will be held on Sunday, 12 July. During the famous pilgrimage church service, you will hear music from the time of the Habsburg Monarchy from the end of the 17th century, when word about Klatovy and its miraculous image spread throughout the Czech lands. In cooperation with the European Capital of Culture 2015 / Pilsen and under the supervision of Michael Pospíšil, the leading expert on Czech music of the 17th century, visitors will experience an interpretation by the Collegium for Sacred Music of Klatovy, with the help of two invited major Pilsen music bodies – the Chamber Choir of Czech Musicians (choirmaster Martin Cervenka) and the Consortium Musicum Chamber Orchestra.
In the context of the pilgrimage music programme of the Collegium for Sacred Music of Klatovy, the works of lesser-known composers influential in the territory of the former monarchy will also be presented. These include, for example, Leopold I (1640 – 1705), a skilled composer who musicalised Marian antiphonies in Sub tuum praesidium. The place of honour in the programme will be devoted to the compositional mastery of the St Vitus bandleader, Nicholas František Xaver Wentzely (1643-1722), the author of Salve Regina, who combined choral inspiration and a polyphonic rate in a strict but fresh style reminiscent of Vivaldi. There will also be the work of Pavel Josef Vejvanovský (1639/1640-1693), a bandleader and trumpeter from Kroměříž, the author of the Vespertiny Sonata for two trumpets and leader of an accompanying instrumental ensemble. We will also hear an anonymous text of the song To the Virgin Mary of Klatovy, which was created shortly after the miracle in Klatovy and which was written in the printed hymnbook of Václav Matěj Šteyer by Klatovy inhabitants.

ARTISTS AND PARTICIPANTS

COLLEGIUM FOR SACRED MUSIC OF KLATOVY
CHAMBER CHOIR OF CZECH MUSICIANS
CONSORTIUM MUSICUM CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Admission: optional TICKETS ON THE SPOT
Capacity: 200 places
Programme partner: Collegium for Sacred Music of Klatovy

MAP  BACK