György Vashegyi, a dedicated proponent of 17th- and 18th-century French music, has recently shown an increasingly intense interest in that nation's music from the 19th century as well. The young Gounod spent nearly three years in Rome between 1839 and 1842, where the most important musical impulses came from much earlier church music, especially that of Palestrina. Among the works he wrote around this time are several liturgical compositions and other pieces inspired by liturgy. The Requiem, completed in 1842 and still unpublished to this day, is one of the most exciting works from Gounod's Roman period.
The other work featured in the concert is by Théodore Dubois, one of the defining artists and teachers from the period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although his 1867 oratorio The Seven Last Words of Christ was written for relatively modest musical forces, it proved so successful that it was swiftly revised for a full symphonic ensemble so that it could be performed all over the world.

Presented by: Hungarian Radio Art Groups