"He's done it again!" Indeed, Vlad Weverbergh has done it again: bringing a composer from our region back to life. And this, to my knowledge, for the third time. After Hendrik Tobi (1741-1809) and Hébert Leemans (1741-1771), he has now dusted off Ignaz Vitzthumb (1724-1816) from obscurity.
Not for a concert, but for what he himself called "a lecture." But it was really a trial run, an experiment to see whether what he has been working on for three years—the scores of a nine-part work that hasn't been performed in 200 years and which he has spent months painstakingly transcribing—could actually be performed in its entirety.
It concerns the 'Lamentations of Jeremiah for Holy Week' by Ignaz Vitzthumb. Born near Vienna, he arrived in Brussels as a ten-year-old boy, where he was trained by none other than Joseph Fiocco. As a violinist, conductor, and entrepreneur, he was the perfect person to help shape the Théâtre de la Monnaie alongside Pieter Van Maldere. Once he was dismissed, another time he went bankrupt. This, combined with his political involvement, made the talented 'maître de musique' a colorful figure who lived to be 92.
Among his Symphonies and Operas, the manuscript of the 'Lamentations of Jeremiah' was also preserved: a work lasting an hour that was entrusted to Terra Nova and the choir 'Octopus' led by Bart Van Reyn. It sounded in full for the first time again in the Predikheren church, thanks to the City of Mechelen and the Mechelen Conservatory.
It couldn't be more symbolic, as the Predikheren church, beautifully restored while clearly maintaining its character, is practically as old as Vitzthumb.
Jerusalem
The work is not an oratorio. It fits into the liturgy surrounding Easter. The Latin texts are drawn from the Biblical Book of the Prophet Jeremiah. He wanted to warn the people with condemnations and laments—think of our jeremiads—that if they did not repent, God would make Jerusalem fall and destroy the temple.
The very name 'Jerusalem' ran like a red thread through Vitzthumb's entire composition and was entrusted to the choir. Its intensity evolved from pressing to resigned. The enthusiastic empathy of the nearly thirty singers was instrumental in this. The choral passages alternated with solos by Christophe Prégardien, William Shelton, and Door Van Bergen. A compelling confrontation between an established name like a bell, a Franco-British countertenor with ties to the Royal Chapel Elisabeth and the Philippe Jaroussky Academy, and a very promising young rising star and winner of Young Belgian Talent 2025.
Revelation
If two experiences linger, it's the repeated cry 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem' and the silken yet powerful voice of Door Van Bergen. He didn't attend conservatory, but developed himself under the wing of tenor and pedagogue Teun Michiels. Only 18 years old, yet what effortlessness, certainty, presence, aplomb, fluidity, conviction, paired with a voice as clear as flowing water, and diction like that of a reciter! A son of Kempen we'd gladly hear more from…
