The Heritage Chorale’s 75th Anniversary Season opens in spectacular fashion with a performance of Mendelssohn’s glorious Hymn of Praise (also known as Lobgesang, or Symphony No. 2 in B-flat). For this concert, conducted by John Finney, the Heritage Chorale will collaborate with the Boston College Symphony Orchestra.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) composed his Lobgesang for a festival celebrating the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg’s invention of movable type, held in Leipzig in 1840. He referred to the Lobgesang as a “symphony for chorus and orchestra,” or a “symphony-cantata.” Both are apt descriptions, as the Lobgesang begins with three purely orchestra movements, followed by an extensive cantata for soloists, chorus, and orchestra. The text includes exclamations of praise from Psalm 150, as well as stanzas of the beloved Thanksgiving hymn “Now Thank We All Our God.”
The Boston College Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of John Finney since 1999, is comprised of undergraduate and graduate students from Boston College. The Orchestra regularly performs major works from the orchestral repertoire, including symphonies by Beethoven, Dvorak, and Tchaikovsky. This concert marks their first collaboration with the Heritage Chorale.