Beethoven's Ode to Joy resonates at the feet of the Mother of God of Montserrat
Almost 2,000 people attended Montserrat to listen to Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, in a new concert of the Montserrat Music Festival.
Redacció
28 September de 2026
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Monday, September 28, 2026.- The Abbey of Montserrat hosted the Ninth Symphony concert by Ludwig van Beethoven as part of a new program in the Montserrat Music Festival.
On Sunday evening, Montserrat presented a concert that was one of the most anticipated of this year's festival, featuring one of the most influential works in music history—a piece whose fourth movement, the Hymn to Joy, also represents the anthem of the European Union and a call for brotherhood among peoples. These were values that Fr. Bernat Juliol, steward of the abbey, also sought to convey in his opening address, expressing that "we would like this performance to go beyond the music and become a prayer for peace and concord in our world".
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To further underscore the significance of the concert, this was the exact work that maestro Pau Casals was rehearsing at the Palau de la Música on July 18, 1936, coinciding with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. This historical connection, along with the maestro's close relationship with Montserrat, meant the concert was also aligned with the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Pau Casals' birth.
The scale of the concert was also reflected in the attendance at Montserrat, with 600 people following it inside the Basilica of Santa Maria itself and another 1,300 from outside via a giant screen installed in Plaça Santa Maria. In total, nearly two thousand people did not want to miss the occasion.
On a strictly musical level, conductor Xavier Puig was in charge of leading the 64 musicians of the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, the 108 voices of the Orfeó Català, and the four soloists—Marta Mathéu (soprano), Gemma Coma-Alabert (mezzosoprano), Roger Padullés (tenor), and Ferran Albrich (baritone)—in the performance of Joan Maragall's translation of Friedrich von Schiller's poem.
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This symphonic ensemble led the audience to the grand climax of the fourth movement, which, from the presbytery of the basilica at the feet of the Mother of God of Montserrat, became an ode to joy and humanity, filling the space with the verses:
Abraceu-vos, homes ara!
Un gran bes inflama els cels:
Germans, sobre els bells estels
hi ha l’Amor immens d’un pare.
Thus ended another night of music at Montserrat, with a concert supported by the Pinnae Foundation, with whom the Abbey of Montserrat regularly collaborates for the music festival.
On Sunday evening, Montserrat presented a concert that was one of the most anticipated of this year's festival, featuring one of the most influential works in music history—a piece whose fourth movement, the Hymn to Joy, also represents the anthem of the European Union and a call for brotherhood among peoples. These were values that Fr. Bernat Juliol, steward of the abbey, also sought to convey in his opening address, expressing that "we would like this performance to go beyond the music and become a prayer for peace and concord in our world".
To further underscore the significance of the concert, this was the exact work that maestro Pau Casals was rehearsing at the Palau de la Música on July 18, 1936, coinciding with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. This historical connection, along with the maestro's close relationship with Montserrat, meant the concert was also aligned with the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Pau Casals' birth.
The scale of the concert was also reflected in the attendance at Montserrat, with 600 people following it inside the Basilica of Santa Maria itself and another 1,300 from outside via a giant screen installed in Plaça Santa Maria. In total, nearly two thousand people did not want to miss the occasion.
On a strictly musical level, conductor Xavier Puig was in charge of leading the 64 musicians of the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, the 108 voices of the Orfeó Català, and the four soloists—Marta Mathéu (soprano), Gemma Coma-Alabert (mezzosoprano), Roger Padullés (tenor), and Ferran Albrich (baritone)—in the performance of Joan Maragall's translation of Friedrich von Schiller's poem.
This symphonic ensemble led the audience to the grand climax of the fourth movement, which, from the presbytery of the basilica at the feet of the Mother of God of Montserrat, became an ode to joy and humanity, filling the space with the verses:
Abraceu-vos, homes ara!
Un gran bes inflama els cels:
Germans, sobre els bells estels
hi ha l’Amor immens d’un pare.
Thus ended another night of music at Montserrat, with a concert supported by the Pinnae Foundation, with whom the Abbey of Montserrat regularly collaborates for the music festival.
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