Singing the oldest surviving Requiem Mass

By Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene (get free updates of new posts here)

Some 17 years ago Vidas and I we were leading this vocal group "Gloria" at Vilnius University St. John's church and sung the first surviving Requiem Mass by Johannes Ockeghem (1410-1497).

It might have been the first time this Mass was performed in Lithuania, who knows?

​The music is enchanting. We first fell in love with this piece by listening to the recording of the Hilliard Ensemble.

This Kyrie heals and calms your soul and even perhaps your body, doesn't it?

Here's how it sounds on the organ when Vidas recorded it while practicing for More Palatino recital.

So for me this event from last Saturday brought some amazing memories from those 17 years ago.

By the way, Vidas has recorded a live training on Facebook about some of the things he learned from this recital. If you're not on Facebook, I hope you'll enjoy it on YouTube.

Also this morning added two bonus video trainings to his mini course on how to find more opportunities for organ recital. As of this writing, 60 organists have joined it so far.

Have to run now and practice Kyrie from Bach's Clavierubung III and later prepare for my harmony lesson with Victoria.

Organ practice really moves you beyond mundane existence. I hope you'll do it before you hit the bed tonight.

​What a joy!

PS the above picture is from our yesterday's hike at Belmontas where we walked almost 8000 steps. This place is just 5 minutes drive from Vilnius center and perfect for people who want to get out of town really quick.

It was very relaxing for both of us after our strenuous Saturday - Vidas played this recital and I sat in Musicology exams at school from 8:30 AM until 5:00 PM while listening to students SING and play modulations and sequences, sight-read melodies and talk about music history issues.