German “Katschtaler Messe”

Sunday, May 3rd at 11:00am, the Gottscheer Heimatchor and the STV Bavaria choir will jointly sing the “Katschtaler Messe”.

The Katschtaler Messe (Katsch Valley Mass) is a significant piece of sacred folk music from the Austrian state of Kärnten (Carinthia). Arranged by Hans Pleschberger, it is a “Sängermesse” deeply rooted in local regional culture. Pleschberger was born in the Katschtal in 1942 and began collecting and arranging the traditional spiritual folk songs of the region in the mid-1960s while studying music and history in Vienna. The Katschtaler Messe was published in its standardized form in 1987. Pleschberger became the leader of the Katschtaler Kirchenchor (St. Peter im Katschtal Church Choir) in 1993.