Völlinger world premiere with 120 participants

For centuries, the Corpus Christi celebration in Zug has united faith, tradition and the public. Buta special premiere will be taking centre stage this year: Martin Völlinger's new Corpus Christi Mass will be performed for the first time on the Landsgemeindeplatz in Zug.
 

The Feast of Corpus Christi (Fronleichnam) has been of great importance in Zug for centuries. In earlier times, the procession with the Blessed Sacrament even travelled by boat across Lake Zug. Today, however, the focus is on the grand festive Mass on the Landsgemeindeplatz: worshippers, local authorities, and traditional costume associations will first process through the old town. The Landsgemeindeplatz square thereby becomes a public space for faith, encounter, and tradition, and the church invites the public to a reception afterwards.

A key element of the church festivities is the musical programme, which is presented annually on a grand scale: the four Zug city choirs each perform a Mass with an orchestra. In recent years, this has primarily been the Corpus Christi Mass by the Zug musician Sales Kleeb (1930-2025), composed in 2008.

Linguistic diversity
The Corpus Christi tradition in Zug features a musical innovation this year: the composer Martin Völlinger, who is also the principal organist in Steinhausen, has written a new mass for the service on the Landsgemeindeplatz at 9 a.m on the 4th June. The special feature of this commissioned work is that it largely follows the established Ordinary of the Mass, but stands out due to its multilingualism: in addition to the Latin chorales, there are also free texts in English.

“Martin Völlinger’s Mass reflects the multicultural diversity of the city of Zug,” says project manager Philipp Emanuel Gietl. Musical director Armon Caviezel characterises the composition as “a type of music that appeals to all ears in its versatility.” The use of wind instruments, piano, percussion, and electric bass gives the commissioned work a contemporary form, which essentially consists of four vocal groups: In addition to the soloists and the choir, children participate – and finally, the congregation can also contribute vocally.

The final rehearsals for the world premiere of Martin Völlinger's Corpus Christi Mass.         Photo: Ursula Gnos
 

“Our requirement was that the composition not be too experimental. It also had to be performable with a single choir and designed flexibly enough that individual sections could function as stand-alone pieces,” explains Armon Caviezel.

The composer will be at the piano
“What’s very helpful for us when rehearsing the Corpus Christi Mass is the composer’s personal participation at the piano,” adds Philipp Emanuel Gietl. “This is a comfortable starting point.” The finished work was completed in January, and rehearsals have been underway since Easter. And the grand premiere with almost 120 participants is now imminent.

As every year, everyone involved is hoping for dry weather to uphold the tradition of the open-air Corpus Christi service In the case of bad weather, St. Michael's Church is the planned alternative venue.

Information:
Corpus Christi service on the Landsgemeindeplatz in Zug with the world premiere of Martin Völlinger's Mass at 9 am on Thursday, 4th June.