Saturday Evening Mass in St. Peter's Church....

Some of the hauntingly beautiful stained-glass windows
the chorus in action with the Camerata Lipsiensis
a close-up of chorus and orchestra
Another close-up
The duet Domine Deus, rex coelestis 

The Peterskirche from outside
And from inside
sacred spaces
Today was no normal Saturday. I was running errands in the city this afternoon and taking a break in a café, where I saw someone wheeling an elderly lady in a wheelchair. Suddenly I saw my mother in front of me, and the whole range of emotions exploded. 

When you think you may be recovering, this happens to remind you how little time effects healing. 

I decided to go to a concert in the Peterskirche - St. Peter's Church - just south of the city centre and only 10 minutes by tram from my flat. At 7:30 pm. the Oratorio Choir of Tokyo (Japan, of course) was performing J. S. Bach's B-minor Mass with the Camerata Lipsiensis, a Leipzig orchestra made up primarily of music conservatory students. This should help my mood, I thought. 

As you see from the photos above, the Peterskirche has an almost mystical and quite sacred atmosphere. Restoration moves slowly in this, one of the few gothic churches of Leipzig, giving it a type of haunted atmosphere. Add the late evening sun streaming through the stained glass windows, and you are ready for a gothic romance. 

Then the performance began. This is an excellent choir that has already produced several professional cds, including a recording of the Bach B-minor Mass. Such standards were noticeable in the performance. Here was an intimate Bach that played, in the baroque fashion, with the melismen and tacitura, creating an ephemeral melody line almost like incense wafting through the rows. 

I am always amazed at the style of Bach concerts I experience in Leipzig, the home of Bach for his last 27 years of life. No matter which group performs, there is a vitality and joy in the playing that makes it hard to sit still during the concert - J. S. Bach is still in the air here, and time stands still as music 250 years old seems as fresh as if the ink on the pages were still wet. 

Though I own a recording of this mass, this is the first hearing that has called to my attention how much dissonance Bach has put into the work. Melodies and harmonies move chromatically in a way one would assume in the late 19th century. Perhaps my favorite section was laudamus te - we praise you - sung so personally by the soprano soloist. When it came to the section of the credo - et ressurrexit tertia die - you felt the power and glory of something humans still cannot fathom. 

Finally, at the end, I realized dona nobis pacem - give them peace. Time cannot heal all things, but, as I experienced in this concert, peace can still come in spite of grief. 

And, this concert was free - it was a gift from the chorus to the St. Peter's Church in Leipzig. What a beatiful gift - a showing of grace - from messengers from across the world. As if God gave his blessing, during the final dona nobis pacem it began pouring rain and thundering and lightening outside - what perfectly timed divine support for the tympani and trumpets, as we all were ceremonially baptized in the deluge as we then left the church with the last chords and words still in our ears, hearts, and minds.