Splendor of sound in the Old Swiss Confederacy

From the end of the 17th century at the latest, the canons of St. Michael's Abbey in Beromünster (LU) celebrated the feast of St. Michael (September 29) and the subsequent consecration of the church (September 30) with the greatest amount of church music in the church year. The ceremonial required a double or triple choir mass on both feast days. Unsurprisingly, the festivities not only attracted worshippers from near and far, but also musicians who had gathered in Beromünster days before to rehearse the music. 

In 1749, a three-voiced festive mass composed especially for the festivities by Franz Joseph Leonti Meyer von Schauensee (1720-1789) was performed. While Markus Lutz (1772-1835) described the Lucerne patrician as the "most famous Swiss composer of his time", Meyer von Schauensee has largely been forgotten today. This is not least due to the fact that modern editions of his works are almost completely lacking. In order to gain an impression of the late baroque musical splendor of the Beromünster monastery and to be able to study Meyer von Schauensee's music in more detail, Raphael Eccel, Grégory Rauber, Luc Vallat and Christoph Riedo have set themselves the goal of compiling the music composed for the Beromünster monastery. Messa Solenne a 3 Cori in a historical-critical edition and to publish it in the edition series of the Swiss Music Research Society.

The Geneva musicologist's project received a boost when the concert series at the monastery church in Muri/AG and the Early Music Festival Zurich showed interest in performing the three-choir festive mass. Meyer von Schauensee's work will now be performed both on September 22 in Zurich and on September 24 in Muri/AG under the direction of Jakob Pilgram. The performers are the vocal ensemble larynx (3 soloist quartets) and the Capricornus Consort Basel (3 string quintets, 3 organs, 6 trumpets, 2 horns, 1 timpani). The second concert will be filmed, recorded and made available on the Festival Alte Musik Zürich website. In this way, an impression of the musical splendor in Beromünster, which was on a par with numerous other Swiss religious churches, can be gained in the future.

In fact, those attending the service were treated to a unique listening experience. The singers and instrumentalists, divided into three sound groups, offered an unparalleled polyphonic spectacle in the collegiate church. In the mass, which consists of 24 movements, Meyer von Schauensee exploited everything that polychoralism has to offer: from the full, three-choir sound to all conceivable combinations of the interplay of the three sound groups and various echo effects. Just as impressively, the transcribed score illustrates for the first time how well Meyer von Schauensee, who studied with Ferdinando Galimberti (?-1751) in Milan from 1740-42, was able to capture the musical style of the early Milan symphonists around Giovanni
Battista Sammartini (1700/1-1775) has internalized. 

Information about the concerts

Friday, September 22, 2023 at 7.30 pm in the Fraumünster in Zurich as part of the Festival Alte Musik Zürich. Concert introduction at 6.15 pm at the Center Karl der Grosse (Kirchgasse 14).

Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 5 p.m. in the monastery church of Muri/AG as part of the concert series Music in the monastery church.

Information about the edition 

Franz Joseph Leonti Meyer von Schauensee (1720-1789): Messa Solenne a 3 Coried. by Raphael Eccel, Grégory Rauber, Luc Vallat
and Christoph Riedo, 7th volume of the edition series Music from Swiss Monasteries, Bern: Peter Lang (in preparation). 

The publishers are still looking for funds to realize the edition. 

Contact: christoph.riedo@unige.ch