{"id":2355657,"date":"2026-04-02T16:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2355657"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:18:20","slug":"wpr-music-new-album-of-the-week-lobgesang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wpr-music-new-album-of-the-week-lobgesang\/","title":{"rendered":"WPR Music new album of the week: &#8216;Lobgesang&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Just in time for Passover and Easter, this week\u2019s new release is the \u201cLobgesang,\u201d or \u201cHymn of Praise,\u201d something of a symphony-cantata by Felix Mendelssohn.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also known as the Symphony No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 52. The Bach Collegium Japan recorded the work under the direction of founder Masaaki Suzuki on the BIS label.<\/p>\n<p>The music starts with a three-movement symphony that serves as an orchestral prelude for the sacred cantata that follows. The cantata\u2019s nine movements are comprised of texts primarily drawn from the Bible \u2014 mostly Psalms and Isaiah in the Old Testament, with excerpts from the New Testament as well.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wpr-injected-form wp-block-wpr-theme-gravity-form\">\n<div class=\"gf_browser_chrome gform_wrapper gravity-theme gform-theme--no-framework\" data-form-theme=\"gravity-theme\" data-form-index=\"0\" id=\"gform_wrapper_2\">\n<div class=\"gform_heading\">\n<h2 class=\"gform_title\">Understanding Wisconsin, Together.<\/h2>\n<p class=\"gform_description\">WPR\u2019s \u201cWisconsin Today\u201d newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>This substantial work (70+ minutes) was composed not too long after Beethoven\u2019s choral Symphony No. 9 premiered, a piece that clearly inspired Mendelssohn. <\/p>\n<p>A big celebration provided the impetus for the music \u2014 the 400th anniversary of the invention of the printing press and its first major publication, the Gutenberg Bible. Mendelssohn was commissioned to compose something for the event, and his creation serves as an allegory that takes the listener on a spiritual journey from darkness into light.<\/p>\n<p>The texts reflect both the events of Exodus that are celebrated during the Jewish Passover, and themes of the week leading up to Easter and the day itself \u2014 sorrow, wandering in the darkness and fear, followed by liberation, God\u2019s protection, redemption, praise and sheer joy. The cantata section opens and closes with \u201cLet everything that has breath praise the Lord\u201d from Psalm 150:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Symphony No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 52, &#039;Lobgesang&#039;: II. Alles, was Odem hat\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/s9a2kzgOjQc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Mendelssohn created a rich soundscape for \u201cLobgesang,\u201d with an organ joining the orchestra, plus a chorus and three soloists (two sopranos and a tenor). <\/p>\n<p>He also included the popular Lutheran chorale, \u201cNun Danket alle Gott,\u201d (Now Praise We all our God) that would have been well known to audiences of the day:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Symphony No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 52, &#039;Lobgesang&#039;: VIII. Nun danket alle Gott\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WZU66p7q8cU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>This new recording from the Bach Collegium Japan is a modest-sized endeavor for such a big piece, and the ensemble uses period instruments and gut strings, with just over 20 singers in the chorus. The result is clear and transparent, yet with plenty of power.<\/p>\n<p>This is the third movement from the opening symphony:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Symphony No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 52, &#039;Lobgesang&#039;: VIII. Nun danket alle Gott\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WZU66p7q8cU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Mendelssohn\u2019s heritage was Jewish \u2014 he was born into a prominent German-Jewish family, but due to 19th century anti-Semitism, he was baptized as a Lutheran at age 7, given a Christian education and made to assimilate. <\/p>\n<p>Felix Mendelssohn did \u201c\u2026 eventually find a way to balance his Jewish heritage and his Christian faith,\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brandeis.edu\/now\/2009\/june\/sposatomendelssohn.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to scholar Jeffrey S. Sposato,<\/a> whose book \u201cThe Price of Assimilation: Felix Mendelssohn and the Nineteenth-Century Anti-Semitic Tradition\u201d informed a 2009 BBC documentary about Mendelssohn.<\/p>\n<p>Whether that balance was intentionally reflected in his \u201cLobgesang\u201d or not, the music and text are all about illumination and the ultimate victory of light over darkness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.wpr.org \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just in time for Passover and Easter, this week\u2019s new release is the \u201cLobgesang,\u201d or \u201cHymn of Praise,\u201d something of a symphony-cantata by Felix Mendelssohn. It\u2019s also known as the Symphony No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 52. The Bach Collegium Japan recorded the work under the direction of founder Masaaki Suzuki on the BIS [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2355659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2355657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WPR-Music-new-album-of-the-week-Lobgesang.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2355657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2355657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2355657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2355660,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2355657\/revisions\/2355660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2355659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2355657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2355657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2355657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}