Tyrolean Christmas Concert 2025

Joseph Friedrich Hummel was born in Innsbruck in 1841, the scion of a long-established family of musicians. He studied with Franz Lachner in Munich and worked as a conductor at theaters in Austria and Germany before being appointed the first director of the Salzburg Mozarteum in 1880. He conducted performances and was considered an excellent Mozart conductor; he also led the Salzburg Liedertafel (choral society) and performed as a cellist. His brother Alexander was a music teacher in Innsbruck and a renowned clarinetist, his son Walter a respected musicologist and educator, and his nephew Albert Riester a harpist and composer. Joseph Friedrich Hummel's Pastoral Mass in G major was commissioned in 1915 by Josef Gasser, then choirmaster of Wilten Abbey, and was originally conceived for choir and organ only. At the behest of Prince-Archbishop Balthasar Kaltner of Salzburg, Hummel orchestrated the work for large orchestra in 1916. Pastoral themes are combined with late-Romantic harmonies in this ambitious composition.

Stefanie Steger, soprano - Lea Elisabeth Müller, mezzo-soprano - Johannes Puchleitner, tenor - Stefan Zenkl, bass
Choir and orchestra of the St. Blasius Academy
Karlheinz Siessl, conductor
In cooperation with the “Music Museum” of the Tyrolean State Museums, CD production