Nr.6a for a cappella choir (STAB)
(1996) [7:00]
LMB-OP-006-01-A-1996
Nr.6b for piano four hands
(1996) [7:00]
LMB-OP-006-00-B-1996
Performers: Johanna e Margit Henschel
Nr.6c for string quartett
(2000) [7:00]
LMB-OP-006-00-C-2002
00 Tema (corale)
02 Sarabanda
03 Tarantella
09 Tango
11 Galop
Nr.6d for flutes quartett
(2011) [7:00]
LMB-OP-006-00-D-2011
Nr.6e for organ
(2018) [7:00]
LMB-OP-006-00-E-2018
Nr.6f for violin and piano
(2018) [7:00]
LMB-OP-006-00-F-2018
Suite of eleven dances: 0 Corale (Tema), I Minuetto, II Sarabanda, III Tarantella, IV Csardas,
V Habanera, VI Mazurka, VII Waltzer, VIII Charleston, IX Tango, X Cha cha cha, XI Galop.
Dedications: Op.6a: Maxchor München | Op.6b: Margit e Johanna Henschel | Op.6e: Paolo Testa | Op.6f: Martin Eidenschink
Instrumentation: original version for mixed 4-voice choir a cappella. Then elaborated for different instrumentations as above:
Dedication: OP.6a: Maxchor München
First performance | Performers: OP.6a: 1996 – Parish hall of St. Maximilian in Munich – Maxchor – conductor Lucio Mosè Benaglia
Following performances | Interprets: OP.6b: 2001 – Henschels House – Munich – Lucio Benaglia and Margit Urban, piano | 2017 – Centro Culturale S.Bartolomeo – Bergamo – Paolo Oreni and Patrizia Salvini, piano | 2023 – Church of S.Andrea – Bergamo – Daniele und Davide Trivella | 2023 Ingolstadt – Barocksaal im Stadtmuseum – Davide und Daniele Trivella | 2023 Mering – Konzertsaal – Davide und Daniele Trivella | OP.6c: 2001 – Museo del Falegname – Almenno S.Bartolomeo – Quartetto Moderno | OP.6d: 2011 – Gasteig München – Kleiner konzertsaal – Münchner Musikseminar – first flute Matteo Benaglia | OP.6e: 2019 – St. Stephan – München – Thomas Rothfuß, organ
Edizione: Benaglia-Edition
Descrizione: (from the edition’s preface)
The first documented example of the melody used for this Jodlersuite dates back to 1830 when it was sung in Sterzing (South Tirol) during the celebration of the midnight mass of Holy Christmas. It is difficult to say whether the composition was written from the very beginning to be performed during that midnight mass or for sacred celabrations generally. Instead, it seems more plausible to think that the melody had already existed in the popular tradition for some time between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, and that it was then spontaneously inserted alongside local liturgical music.
It then became a tradition over time and was performed until the middle of the 19th century in churches in Sterzing and the surrounding area. With the advent of the Cecilian Movement, which is a musical movement born in Germany with the proposal to ban all profane echoes from sacred music, the so-called Sterzinger Andachtsjodler (also known as Mettenjodler) was banned from the liturgical sphere and fell therefore quickly into oblivion. With the liturgical reform movements of the 20th century, the language spoken by the people began to gain more and more weight alongside Latin, the official language of the Catholic Church. An example of such trends in Germany can be found in the Deutsche Bauernmesse, composed by Annette Thoma and performed for the first time in 1933, in which the forgotten Sterzinger Andachtsjodler was revived and quickly became one of the most popular melodies in the traditional Bavarian and Tyrolean Christmas repertoire. It is also sung in my parish of St. Maximilian in Munich every year at Christmas during the celebration of the Christmette, the Midnight Mass. It is also a tradition in our parish that the celebrant tells some funny stories during the Holy Mass on the last Sunday of Carnival. The organist, for his part, responds by performing a profane piece or a paraphrase of ecclesiastical melodies.
This practice gave rise to the idea of writing a suite of dances inspired by this Jodler and composed of exactly eleven pieces. In Germany, eleven is a symbolic number of the carnival: it is no coincidence that the Rhine Carnival in Cologne is proclaimed every year on the eleventh of November at eleven minutes past eleven. The simple melody of this Jodler lends itself well to being elaborated and varied. And it is simply this motive that has inspired this Jodlersuite of mine: a pure compositional game, but nevertheless operated with the greatest respect for this beautiful Jodler, which I also sing with devotion and always with a renewed emotion together with the choir and the assembly of my parish at every Midnight Mass.