Kodály Missa Brevis and Britten Rejoice in the Lamb
Sat 14 Jun
|Exeter College Chapel, Oxford
Two joyful masterworks written in the shadow of war - with special guest organist Martin Ford. Also includes scintillating a cappella works by Valentin Silvestrov and Kim André Arnesen.
Time & Location
14 Jun 2025, 19:30 BST
Exeter College Chapel, Oxford, Turl St, Oxford OX1 3DP, UK
About the event
In May this year we commemorated the 80th anniversary of VE Day that marked the ending of the Second World War in Europe. Inspired by this important milestone, we have programmed two major works for chamber choir composed in the shadow of WW2 for the concert in Exeter College Oxford on 14 June 2025.
Kodaly was hiding with his wife in the vaults of Budapest Opera from late 1944 as Russian and Romanian forces besieged the city when he wrote the Missa Brevis . It was tried out in 1945 by singers from the Opera House (accompanied by harmonium) there with a background of gunfire. The gestation may have been desperate; the music is intense and full of life force.
Britten was a conscientious objector, and spent the early war years in America. He returned in April 1942, and Rejoice in the Lamb was commissioned the following year by the…