Abbey bandleader Ruth Mory-Wigger chooses works by Father Emanuel Bucher

When the Engelberg Benedictine priest Emanuel Bucher was released from his old age 50 years ago on February 1, 1975 at the age of 79, he left behind a rich musical oeuvre. From year to year, from festival to festival, he composed new works. Many of his compositions are often sung by the Stiftschor. This is also the case this year, when the three pre-Easter days begin with the Last Supper on High Thursday (8 p.m., Monastery Church). The Bucher composition “Nos autem gloriari oportet” can be heard right at the beginning of this service. For Ruth Mory-Wigger, the Abbey’s choirmaster, this work is “a highly impressive start to this celebration.” Father Emanuel Bucher’s music can also be heard in the funeral masses on Good Friday (08:00) and Holy Saturday (08:00). The Bucher work “Christus factus est”, sung by the Stiftschor ensemble, is a very haunting composition.
The “Chants for the Washing of the Feet” performed by the choir on High Thursday were written by Johann Baptist Hilber (1891-1973). He was also a well-known composer with an Engelberg past. He attended the Abbey School 110 years ago. At the Easter Sunday morning service, which begins at 10.15 a.m., the Stiftschor, which will be joined by an orchestra and two soloists, will perform Johann Baptist Hilber’s Mass in D minor.