Ensemble Phœnix Basel

Vigilia – In Memoriam Wolfgang Rihm (13.3.1952–27.7.2024)

Concert in collaboration with the “SCHOLA HEIDELBERG” (director: Ekkehard Windrich)

The oeuvre of the German composer and musicologist Wolfgang Rihm, who died at the end of July this year after a serious illness, is immense. In addition to three symphonies, nine operas and a large number of solo and chamber music works, “Vigilia” occupies a very special place as one of the most impressive compositions in his oeuvre. This music manages to be directly accessible to both connoisseurs and less accustomed listeners of new music. Vigils are night watches in the Catholic liturgy, which are spent in scripture readings or prayers and, in the concentration of darkness, are intended to prepare for special church festivals, especially Easter. Rihm refers to this custom and the old music-historical tradition of the responsorial cycle, as shaped by Carlo Gesualdo (1560-1613), for example. Wolfgang Rihm used seven Passion texts as a textual basis, which are sung a capella by a six-part vocal ensemble. These motets are each interrupted by instrumental interludes (Sonata I-VII). In the most extensive final part (Miserere), the instrumental and vocal ensembles perform together.

For the concert introduction and a short tribute to Wolfgang Rihm, we were able to win the Berlin-based composer Nico Sauer, who was a student of Wolfgang Rihm at the Karlsruhe University of Music from 2010 to 2015.