Vespers of the Blessed Virgin

Originally scheduled to open the 2021 International Baroque Days Melk Abbey, the performance of Claudio Monteverdi’s “Vespro della Beata Vergine” was recorded with an audience on 21 May 2021 in the abbey church of Melk. Published in 1610, the work is regarded as Monteverdi’s calling card: three years later he became maestro di cappella at St Mark’s in Venice.

Pablo Heras-⁠Casado conducts Concentus Musicus Wien, the festival’s orchestra in residence, and Ensemble Aedes (chorus master: Mathieu Romano); the tenor is Michael Schade, with Reinhard Führer at the organ. Organ pieces by Frescobaldi, Gabrieli and Merulo link the sections of the Vespers.

For television, the film combines the recording from the abbey church with images of the Wachau – from Dürnstein and Weißenkirchen to Göttweig Abbey and the ruins of Aggstein Castle. Wolfram Berger reads poems by Rainer Maria Rilke.