When is 13 not bad luck? When it’s The Thirteen, of course!
Join me for today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network for performances by this superlative chamber choir, directed by Matthew Robertson. On the program will be two French masterworks: Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem and Francis Poulenc’s “Figure humaine.”
Written in 1943, during the Nazi occupation of France, Poulenc’s cantata for double-mixed choir sets texts by the surrealist poet Paul Éluard. The work is an extended hymn to Liberty, victorious over tyranny.
Duruflé’s Requiem began as a commission from the collaborationist Vichy regime, which had requested from the composer a symphonic poem. He decided to write a Requiem instead, an expression of solace in a time of strife. In the event, this Mass for the Dead outlasted the regime that had requested it.
The Thirteen’s next performances will take place this weekend, in Washington, DC, and Bathesda, MD. The program, “Bach Reflections,” will include Handel’s “Dixit Dominus,” Bach’s “Lobet den Herrn,” and Agostino Steffani’s “Stabat Mater.” You can find out more at thethirteenchoir.org.
Then stick around. There’s plenty of good fortune to be found, in the form of great music, this afternoon from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
