Music is a universal language allowing the imagination to wander as far beyond the earthly domain as the spaces of religious reflection, but also to appreciate the significance of sometimes simple everyday matters. Organist Benjamin Righetti’s repertoire ranges from sacred music to his own transcriptions of operatic works. Together with the NFM children’s choirs, the Swiss artist will explore life in its many and varied aspects, allowing us to discover their own personal experiences in what they hear.
The evening will begin with Righetti’s composition based on Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 15. The classic work earned the nickname “Pastoral” due to its pedal note, which brings to mind bagpipes. Immediately following will be an early piece by Camille Saint-Saëns, who uses an idyllic, 18th-century text by Philippe Destouches. The French writer lived contemporaneously with Johann Sebastian Bach. From the oeuvre left by the Baroque master of polyphony, Righetti selected the improvisatory Fantasy in G minor. Together with the young singers, the organist will present excerpts from Bach’s cantata, using text and melody composed by Martin Luther – one of the most important Protestant hymns.
The German composer’s works will be separated by arrangements of excerpts from two outstanding operas. The first performance will feature the moving aria When I Am Laid in Earth by Henry Purcell, sung by the titular heroine of Dido and Aeneas – the Queen of Carthage, distraught over her lover’s departure, commits suicide. Two hundred years after Purcell, Georges Bizet composed his famous Carmen, about a beautiful worker in an Andalusian cigar factory. This work remains enduringly popular, as does the suite he composed on the themes from Carmen. Righetti will perform the latter piece in a transcription for organ. Finally, we will hear excerpts from the works of Maurice Duruflé – the undoubted genius of 20th-century French music, who, due to his exceptionally critical attitude towards his own work, left behind only a dozen or so compositions.