Das Liebesmahl der Apostel

Das Liebesmahl der Apostel WWV 69 (in English The Feast of Pentecost, "The Love-Meal of the Apostles") is a vocal and instrumental piece written by Richard Wagner in 1843, which is not often performed and somewhat forgotten; it is a piece for male choruses and orchestra. Many years after having written it, Wagner described it as “a sort of folkloric miracle play”.

History

Wagner, who had been elected in January 1843 to the committee of a cultural association in the city of Dresden, received a commission to evoke the theme of Pentecost. He had just successfully played Rienzi in Dresden. However, Der fliegende Holländer witnessed a bitter failure.

The premiere took place at the Dresdner Frauenkirche on 6 July 1843, and was performed by around a hundred musicians and almost 1,200 singers, from all Saxony. It was dedicated to Charlotte Emilie Weinlig, the widow of Wagner's former teacher Christian Theodor Weinlig. The concert was very well received, but Wagner was disappointed by its “relatively feeble effect” in view of the vast assembly of singers it had brought together.

Instrumentation

• Choir
  • Tenor baritone bass
  • Tenor tenor baritone bass
  • Tenor tenor baritone bass
  • 3 bass 3 bass 3 bass 3 bass (The Twelve Apostles)
  • 16 tenor 12 baritone 12 bass (Voices from above)

• Orchestra
  • Woodwinds: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 4 bassoons, serpent
  • Brass: 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba
  • Percussion: 4 timpani
  • Strings: 16 first violins, 16 second violins, 12 violas, 12 cellos, 8 basses

Description

The choral parts for three or four singers at first respond at length a cappella, evoking the disarray of the apostles, then come together in an impressive crescendo calling upon the Spirit to come down. Then, from the heights of the nave, comes the chorus “Be comforted”, preceding an unexpected intervention by the orchestra, soon to accompany in all its vastness the descent of the Holy Spirit, in a triumphant ensemble.

Arrangements

Bibliography

Köhler, Joachim (2004), Richard Wagner: The last of the titans, :Cumberland, RI: Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-10422-7