For our summer concert, the Camden Choir is visiting Bohemia and its two great late 19th-century composers: Dvořák and Smetana. In particular, we shall be singing Dvořák’s much loved Mass in D (Op. 86). This was composed in 1887 at the suggestion of his patron Josef Hlávka for the inauguration of the Lužany castle chapel. Since the chapel was quite small, Dvořák wrote it for just four soloists, a small choir and organ. The consecration of the chapel took place on 11 September 1887, and the Mass was conducted by Dvořák himself.
The choir will also sing Dvořák’s Six Moravian Songs (Šest moravských dvojzpěvů). In the mid-1870s, he was employed as a music teacher by the wealthy Neff family. When the family tired of singing German part-songs, he composed a series of duets for them, based on Moravian folk songs. Later, in 1877, Dvorák and Janáček met, and went on a summer walking tour. Dvorák showed Janáček the Moravian Songs, and Janáček then arranged four selections for mixed chorus from those duets, using Dvorák’s original piano accompaniment. He arranged two more selections in 1884, conducting his arrangement in Brno. His support helped to popularize Dvorák’s music among the Czech public. Janacek’s score was rediscovered in Brno Museum in 1939 and subsequently published.
We shall also perform the Opening Chorus from Bedřich Smetana’s comic opera, The Bartered Bride, where a crowd of villagers are celebrating at the church fair (‘Let’s rejoice and be merry’), and our Choral Scholars will perform songs by composers from Eastern Europe.
