Programme

The ensemble Schola Gregoriana Pragensis, led by David Eben, ranks among the most respected interpreters of Gregorian chant in Europe. The programme Sacred Signs focuses on the symbolic language of the liturgy – gestures, rituals and texts that have shaped Christian spiritual tradition for centuries. Eben’s dramaturgical concept connects ancient chants of Latin and local provenance, revealing how liturgical acts carried meanings that transcended ordinary speech. In the acoustically refined setting of the Church of St John the Baptist in Hlučín, the purity and subtle nuances of unison chant will be fully revealed. The eight singers of the Schola create a unique sonic arc, transporting listeners to a time when music was prayer and prayer was music. The concert offers a profound spiritual immersion and an encounter with a tradition preserved in the Czech lands for more than a thousand years.

Programme: Sacred Signs (The Language of Symbols in the Liturgy)

Porta – The Gate
Procession: Antiphon Tollite portas (“Lift up your gates…”)
Verse Tollite portas (“Lift up your gates…”)
Hymn Urbs Jerusalem (“Holy city of Jerusalem…”)
Gradual Unam petii (“One thing have I asked of the Lord…”)
Thomas Damett (15th c.): Salve porta paradisi (“Hail, gate of heaven…”)

Incensum – Incense
Gradual Dirigatur oratio (“Let my prayer rise before you like incense…”)
Johannes Ciconia (c. 1370–1412): O beatum incendium (“O blessed fire…”)
Lectio Libri Apocalypsis (Reading from the Book of Revelation)
Offertory Stetit angelus (“An angel stood with a golden censer…”)

Altare – The Altar
Communion Introibo ad altare Dei (“I will go unto the altar of God…”)
Communion Circuibo et immolabo (“I will go around the altar and offer sacrifice…”)
Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz (15th c.): Iacob scalam (“Jacob saw a ladder with angels…”)
Antiphon Sanctificavit Dominus / Ps. Domine in virtute (“The Lord has sanctified His dwelling…”)
Sanctus (“Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts…”)

Calix – The Chalice
Passio Domini secundum Lucam (Passion according to St Luke – excerpt)
Communion Pater si non potest (“Father, if you are willing, remove this chalice from me…”)
Antiphon Calicem salutaris accipiam (“I will take the cup of salvation…”)
Guillaume Dufay (1397–1474): Hymn Ad cenam agni (“At the Lamb’s high feast…”)
Hymn Pange lingua gloriosi (“Sing, my tongue, the glorious mystery…”)

Campanae – The Bells
Antiphon Pax in caelo (“Peace in heaven, peace on earth…”)
Alleluia Ps. Laudate pueri (“Praise the Lord, you servants of the Lord…”)
O virgo splendens (“O radiant Virgin…”)
Motet Campanis cum cymbalis (“With bells and cymbals praise the Lord…”)