Summer Festival of Sacred Music Featuring Flor Peeters' Missa Festiva Plays St. Bart's, 6/23

The 19th annual Summer Festival of Sacred Music at St. Bart's begins on Sunday, June 23rd at 11 am with a service featuring Flor Peeters' Missa Festiva.

The 20th Century Belgian concert organist and composer Flor Peeters (1903-1986) was the organist for St. Rombold's Cathedral in Mechelen and was the Director of the Conservatory in Antwerp. Like many Belgian composers of the late 19th and 20th centuries, his music was influenced by the French Romantic tradition. But, Peeters' unique style was enriched by the modality of plainsong and Flemish folksong flavored with a more modern sensibility.

His Missa Festiva, Op. 62 was composed in 1947 and dedicated to the choir of St. Rumbold's Cathedral. Scored for a mixed choir of 5 voices and organ, the mass is ingenious in its musical construction employing cyclical techniques throughout the work. Melodic material heard in an earlier movement recurs in a later movement recast in a different rhythm or a different timbre. Although, it is chiefly a festival mass, it is a product of its time, having been composed very soon after the Nazi occupation of Western Europe ended. From the darkness of its haunting Kyrie, the unbridled joy of the Et resurrexit to the radiant hope of the Dona nobis pacem, this mass is one artist's response to tyranny and his earnest prayer for peace.

St. Bartholomew's Choir will be accompanied by Organist, Paolo Bordignon. William K. Trafka will conduct.

The Summer Festival of Sacred Music takes place each Sunday morning at 11 am at St. Bartholomew's Church during the summer months. At a time when most churches reduce their musical offerings, St. Bartholomew's Church provides outstanding sacred music sung by St. Bartholomew's Choir and Boy and Girl Choristers, two of New York City's most renowned choirs. Works include an array of mass settings from the 15th century to the present embracing a diversity of cultures from around the world. The music is sung as part of the 11 am service, the liturgical context for which it was composed. All Summer Festival events are free and open to the public.

The Summer Festival of Sacred Music takes place at St. Bart's, located at the corner of Park Avenue and 51st Street. Subway: 6 to 51st Street. For more information, call (212) 378-0222 or
visit our website for the complete schedule.

To post a comment, you must register and login.