The "Festgesang", also known as the "Gutenberg Cantata", was composed by

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

in the first half of 1840 for performance in Leipzig at the celebrations to mark the putative 400th

anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints ...

of the invention of printing with

movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuatio ...

Johannes Gutenberg Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (; – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and Artisan, craftsman who introduced letterpress printing to Europe with his movable type, movable-type printing press. Though not the first of its ki ...

. The full title is ''Festgesang zur Eröffnung der am ersten Tage der vierten Säkularfeier der Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst auf dem Marktplatz zu Leipzig stattfindenden Feierlichkeiten (Ceremonial song for the opening of the celebrations taking place on the first day of the quadricentennial celebration of the invention of the art of printing on the market square in Leipzig).'' It was first performed in the market-square at Leipzig on 24 June 1840.Todd, R. Larry, ''Mendelssohn: a life in music'' (Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 396). The piece is scored for male chorus with two brass orchestras and timpani, and consists of four parts, the first and last based on established Lutheran chorales. Part 2, beginning "Vaterland, in deinen Gauen", was later adapted to the words of

Charles Wesley Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include " And Can It Be", " Christ the Lord Is Risen ...

’s

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is an English Christmas carol that first appeared in 1739 in the collection ''Hymns and Sacred Poems''. The carol, based on , tells of an angelic chorus singing praises to God. As it is known in the modern era, it f ...

" (against Wesley's original request, as he had originally wanted more somber music, though he had been long deceased by this point). The original German words for ''Festgesang'' were by Adolf Eduard Proelss (1803–1882). The use of a large choir and two orchestras was designed to make use of the natural acoustics of the market-place to produce an impressive, resonant sound. Mendelssohn wrote at least two other "Festgesänge", with which the present work are sometimes confused, known as ''

Festgesang an die Künstler Felix Mendelssohn composed the cantata ''Festgesang an die Künstler'', Op. 68, in 1846 as an entry to a German-Flemish song competition,Rudolf Potyra"Beispielhafte Klangschönheit und Präzision"(''Examples of tonal beauty and precision''), in '' ...

'' (1846) and ''Festgesang'' (“Möge das Siegeszeichen” 838.Cooper, John Michael, “Mendelssohn’s works: prolegomenon to a comprehensive inventory” in Seaton, Douglas, ''The Mendelssohn companion'' (Westport, Conn. and London: Greenwood Press, 2001, p. 721).

Lyrics

References

{{authority control Compositions by Felix Mendelssohn Cantatas 1840 compositions German patriotic songs