Hyperion Records

The Three Sacred Choruses, Op 23, were composed shortly after Mendelssohn’s arrival in Rome in November 1830 and directly in response to one of his first visits to the Vatican City. The twenty-one-year-old composer reported enthusiastically to his family that each morning he would play, sing and compose before setting off on sight-seeing trips around the Italian capital. Musically, however, he was decidedly underwhelmed, bemoaning the prevailing standards of orchestral playing as ‘worse than anyone can possibly imagine’. The singing he heard also apparently left a lot to be desired.

The first of the Three Sacred Choruses, Aus tiefer Not, is structured in five sections, four of which are unaccompanied and built on the main chorale theme. The central third—itself a paraphrase of the chorale—is accompanied and cast in Mendelssohn’s flowing, lyrical style, in stark contrast to the neo-Bachian music (most notably the fugal second movement) by which it is surrounded.

from notes by Julian Haylock © 2006