Nico and the Navigators as altar servers

Rossini's "Petite messe solennelle" inspired the Berlin theater group in its third Bregenz guest performance (after 2006 and 2009) to a touching performance that plumbed between mystical fervor and agnostic skepticism. After two hours of touching vocal and movement performance on the workshop stage, there was much applause for all participants. Rossini: "last mortal sin of my age". Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) wrote the mass, which premiered in Paris in 1864, as the "last mortal sin of my old age" for twelve voices, harmonium and two pianos, and did not orchestrate it until 1867. This late work marked his last public appearance as a composer. In his dedication, Rossini asked "Dear God" almost tongue-in-cheek and punningly whether this was really sacred music (musique sacrée) or miserable music (sacrée musique): "I was born for opera buffa, as you well know. A little skill, a little heart, that's all. So be blessed and grant me entrance into paradise. "Nicola Hümpel's directorial concept places the dance realization of the mass, as it were, from the perspective of a Faustian doubter and agnostic. Whether religious or non-religious basic attitude, played no role for the reception of the equally serious as cheerful, altogether in any case very impressive performance. Without direct liturgical reference, everything was in motion in this "Petite messe solennelle", spiritually as well as literally - the stage (Oliver Proske), the singers, the dancers, the conductor (Nicholas Jenkins), the two pianos and the harmonium

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