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Salvete! I am back! I discovered I can render on my clunky computer if I use instead of . Apologies for the long hiatus. Onto the usual information: Believed to have originated in the 13th century, 'Ave verum corpus' is a Eucharistic chant. There are versions by Franz Liszt, Camille Saint-Saëns, and many others. This version is Mozart's, and his motet omits some original text, namely the ending. The artwork: The exceedingly remarkable 'Cristo Velato', or Veiled Christ, is a 1753 marble sculpture by Giuseppe Sanmartino. Originally assigned to the sculptor Antonio Corradini, who specialized in veiled statues, the job passed to Giuseppe Sanmartino because Corradini died a short time after the commission. Sanmartino produced a work so exquisite, he was accused of using alchemy to produce the veil. Carved from the same block of marble, the veil adheres perfectly to the body of Christ, showing signs of the passion through the visible pain and suffering; as if one was looking through the veil. Carved at the feet of the statue are the instruments of the passion: pliers, shackles, and the crown of thorns. Sculptor Antonio Canova, most famous for his Venus Victrix, tried to acquire the work, and declared that “he would willingly give up ten years of his life to produce a similar masterpiece.” The performance had many instances of layered vocals, making it very difficult to discern the lyrics at times, since it did not adhere to the original script verbatim. For instance, the original script dictates fluxit aqua et sanguine, while during the performance the order was aqua fluxit et sanguine. It did not change the meaning, however it did require me to listen to it multiple times to catch that. Performance by: Rundfunkchor Leipzig & Staatskapelle Dresden & Peter Schreier
